There are two images that we will explore. The image of broken marriage, or forsaking a covenant, and the image of the broken cisterns, or building a system that will not sustain.
 

I.  The wilderness is a place of darkness and desperation.

The wilderness is a time of dependence, a time where God shows God’s goodness.
“I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things” (2:7).

Where is your desert? Where is your “land of drought and deep darkness?”

II.  We follow what we want to be.

The Israelites had “followed” the Lord “through the desert” and then they “followed worthless idols.”
Hebrews were not merely in bondage as the slaves of Pharaoh; the Hebrews were in bondage in their hearts and minds.
One cannot serve two masters, not God and Mammon (mamwna), the god of money (Luke 16:13).

III.  By 722 BC the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians. By Jeremiah’s time, the Babylonians had conquered the region, and the Southern Kingdom was threatened.

The broken cistern was a symbol of a system of self-reliance.

IV.  Jeremiah accuses Israel for not asking this question:

^{6 "}They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt…’"  and, again:
8 "The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’"

Israel forgot about the LORD. They neglected the LORD by being the unfaithful spouse. They drank from waters that the LORD did not provide.
If God were to somehow disappear, would we recognize it? Or is our system so automated that we do not need God?
 

To drink deeply from God's abundant waters.

Testimonies from various families, Monica Chan and Lawrence Fan.

Questions for Matthew 6:5-18:

• How do we usually use the term “hypocrite?”

Outward actions do not match with inward motivation.
 
• What does the term really mean?

"Hypocrite" is a Greek word that means "stage actor"

• How does Jesus use the term “hypocrite?”

Jesus uses the term to show how one can act righteous but this display is not of true righteousness.

• What is real righteousness?

Give to God without pretense of righteousness.
 
• How does the Lord’s prayer confront hypocrisy?

In the Lord's Prayer, we are asked to envision God's will and God's kingdom.

• How will we live out the Lord’s prayer?  (I will not give you the answer to this question.)

Our invitation to remove our masks.

1.  A church can do everything right and still be in trouble.

2.  Leaving our first love is sin and grieves Jesus.

3.  Leaving our first love leads to removal of our witness by Jesus.

4.  The Lord himself knows intimate details and is our encourager.
 

Definition of First Love:  First love happens when we find in others what we need in ourselves.  The greater the desperation, the greater the appreciation.

At the cross, God's holiness comes down and depravity goes up.  Holiness and depravity coming together creates a desperate situation for us.  Jesus, the Lamb, is caught in the middle.

Love for God is primary.