Are You In Denial? (The Character of Sin)

Jeremiah 2:1-13, 19

1The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty; disaster came upon them, says the Lord.

4Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me,
and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? 6They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?’ 7I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

9Therefore once more I accuse you, says the Lord, and I accuse your children’s children. 10Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. 11Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. 12Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, 13for my people have committed two evils:
 they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water.


19Your wickedness will punish you,
and your apostasies will convict you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts.