"A Fountain or a Cistern?"

Sermon by Pastor John Hollis

Delivered September 2, 2007

Text: Jeremiah 2:4-13

God's people of old, the southern kingdom, Judah, had problems being faithful to God; God often had to send prophets among them to warn them of what he was going to do with them if they didn't repent. One of the prophets he sent was Jeremiah. In the first chapter of Jeremiah we have God's calling Jeremiah to prophesy to Judah.

Jeremiah tried to excuse himself from serving God in this capacity because he was only a young person. "Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth" (Jeremiah 1:6). But God didn't accept this excuse. "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you will speak" (1:7). And "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth" (1:9). So Jeremiah began many of his messages with the words: "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying," and he would speak what God had given him to speak.

Chapter two begins with the words, speaking of the Israelites, "I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest." But God's people did not continue in the way the Lord had appointed for them.

God asks the question: "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?" He goes on to point out that he had led them through the wilderness and brought them "into the fruitful land, to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, and My inheritance you made an abomination." And he continues: "For my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit." And then he points to the two evils they had committed: "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

They failed to see, as we may also be prone to do, that God makes the fountain but man makes the cistern. It is essential to understand this fact in our relationship with God. The only things that count in this relationship is what God has made, what God has said, what God has sanctified. People may reject what God has made, said, and sanctified, and seek to make, say, or sanctify things for their own use, but it will fail when it comes face to face with God's handiwork. Judah eventually learned this lesson.

Both the fountain and the cistern have a purpose, but the cistern can never replace the fountain. The handiwork of humans can never outshine the handiwork or God; God's handiwork is everlasting, while the handiwork of mankind is only temporary. As we look at the fountain God has made and the cistern that man has made, we can see some obvious differences.

God said that Judah had hewed out cisterns that "can hold no water." They can hold no water because they are broken. A cistern is somewhat like a well. You dig into the ground a hole that is shaped like a gourd. This is then plastered with cement to seal it so it can hold water. There is much labor required to dig and prepare a cistern so that it will hold water. But they can never become a substitute for a fountain. Judah had not learned one of the important lessons about laboring for that which does not satisfy. They spent their labor on foolish things. Isaiah asked the question: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2). This is what Judah was doing with her labor.

When I was a youngster growing up on a farm in Georgia, my grandparents lived on a farm about a mile away from where we lived, and they had a cistern. The water that filled this cistern came from the water shed from the roof of the house during rain showers. This water was used for doing the laundry and other uses other than drinking or cooking.

One of the problems they had to face each summer was that the cistern would often become empty, and if there was a dry summer, as we have seen this year, there was no water to refill the cistern. Water had to be supplied from some other source.

Sometimes a leak would develop in the cement lining and the water would seep out and soon be gone without anyone knowing about the leak. God said Judah was digging cisterns that were broken and would hold no water. A broken, leaky cistern was useless until it was repaired; this required more labor and material and time to accomplish, and then one would have to await a good rain to refill the cistern. The Hebrew author refers to some who should be teaching the word, but they needed to be taught again (Hebrews 5:12). A fountain didn't have to be replenished, the cistern did.

Sometimes the water in the cistern would become unusable because of impurities that would get into the water. When the cistern was being filled, the water from the rainfall would pass through a filter to insure that the water was clean when in entered the cistern. A filtration box would hold gravel and charcoal through which the water would pass and be filtered. This would insure that the water would be usable for laundry and such uses.

However, the water could become impure if proper care was not taken. A proper cover would have to be in place or trash and filth of other sorts would fall into the cistern. Sometimes even small animals would fall into the cistern and drown. This would require a draining of the cistern and a thorough cleaning being done. Hence there was labor involved other than the original making of the cistern. This would be the work of people, and they would have to depend upon their works to make sure their cistern would hold clean water. Paul speaks of our salvation and reminds us that it is not by works of righteousness that we have done that we are saved, but it is by the mercy of God. (Titus 3:5). The cistern required works, the fountain did not.

If the cistern was not kept clean, and if the water wasn't filtered when it entered the cistern, there was a danger of becoming ill by using the impure water. This required diligence on the part of the owner of the cistern to make sure this didn't happen. Again we see the problem of human works to keep the cistern water usable.

Cisterns are only temporary at best. A fountain would flow all the time, but a cistern was good only when adequate rain fell or when the cistern was kept repaired and clean. Yet God said that his people were forsaking the fountain for the cistern.

Forsaking the fountain for the cistern happens when radical ideas and teachings are substituted for the pure teachings of Christ. Just as the use of impure water from a cistern that has not been kept clean may cause illnesses, so when the pure word is ignored and far-out teaching are used, those who hear may become spiritually ill.

Forsaking the fountain for the cistern happens when the body of Christ becomes divided over various issues that have nothing to do with our salvation. Paul reprimanded the church at Corinth because they were divided over different issues; they were not able to eat the Lord's Supper in a proper manner because of the factions among them (1 Corinthians 11:18-20).

Forsaking the fountain for a cistern happens when ordinance keeping is substituted for godly living. Paul readily demonstrates this in the 13^th chapter of First Corinthians when he speaks of all the things he might do, but if he did not have love what he did would be nothing.

Forsaking the fountain for a cistern happens when mere profession of righteousness is observed rather than character. The Pharisee who prayed and thanked God that he was not like other people was one such person. He did so many things that were right, but there was no character to back up his good deeds (Luke 18:9-14).

Now all of these things may be useful under certain circumstances. Radical ideas may serve to awaken us out of our slothfulness. Divisions may open our eyes to our weaknesses. The keeping of ordinances is not sinful within itself. There is certainly a need for us to profess our faith. In their place these may be useful; but they are all liable to run dry.

How about us? Can there be an application made to our lives today? Are we depending upon cisterns when there is a fountain available to us?

God is the fountain. The psalmist David sang in the long ago: "How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! and the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house; and Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights. For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we see light" (Psalm 36:7-9). The people of God had forsaken this fountain of life to dig for themselves cisterns that would not sustain life.

Because God's people had rejected the fountain for cisterns that would hold no water, God had let them go into exile in Babylon. They eventually returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city walls. Another prophet, Zechariah, spoke to them during this period of their history. He delivered this message from God to them: "In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity" (Zechariah 13:1). And he continues: "And it will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter" (Zechariah 14:8).

This fountain would be for all peoples; it would flow forever. This fountain would be for sin and for impurity. This fountain became a reality in Christ Jesus. We have referred to what Isaiah said about laboring for what is not bread and spending money for what does not satisfy; Isaiah begins this statement with the words, "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus said to the woman at Jacob's well, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10). And again, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). And Jesus said to his apostles just before he ascended back to the Father, ". . . and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Here is the fountain of living water flowing to all peoples for sin and impurity.

Why would anyone want to substitute something unreliable for something that is eternal; to substitute something that is not usable for all things when they can have that which is reliable and satisfies every need we have? The eternal invitation is "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost" (Revelation 22:17).

God said, "For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." What a travesty! But people are continuing to do this today, and are suffering the consequences of not having an eternal joy that comes only when we partake of the fountain of living waters. Come, sit down by the riverside and enjoy the cool, refreshing waters of life.

The Cathedral Quartet gives a beautiful rendition of "There Is A River." Some of the words are, "Come to the water, there is a vast supply; come to the river that never shall run dry."

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