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The best way to present this is according to the order mentioned in Hymns, #1080.
I. All things in the human life are vanity.
II. Knowledge is vanity:
The more knowledge you have, the more grief you have. The people who commit suicide are mostly those who are intellectual.
III. Worldly enjoyment is vanity:
This includes all worldly enjoyment. Solomon was king in Jerusalem. He built palaces to live in. His clothing and his diet were the best. He enjoyed everything that the world had to offer, but at the very end he said, “Vanity of vanities” (Eccl. 1:2). This included his wives, concubines, children, and everything.
IV. Careers are vanity:
Your career causes you to overwork and exhaust yourself, and it leaves you weary and sleepless during the night. And it will all be over when you die.
V. Position is vanity:
Position includes a good reputation and honor.
VI. Turn to the Lord while you are young:
The book of Ecclesiastes was not written to old people, but it was written by an old man to young people. No elderly person needs to listen to a message about vanity, because all elderly ones have already known vanity. Only young people dream golden dreams. Therefore, the aged Solomon says, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth” (12:1) so that you will not be sorry when you get old. Now let us look at some of the pitiful conditions of an aged person. Use Ecclesiastes 12:1-8.
А. There is no pleasure. When a person is seventy or eighty years old, death is so close. There is no more pleasure.
B. The sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened. In man’s old age nothing is bright. Because the eyes of the aged are dimmed, they cannot see things clearly. The sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened to them.
C. The clouds return after the rain. It is noisy while the rain is falling, but when the rain stops, it becomes quiet. Some people were very busy while they were managing a factory or serving as administrator of a school, but after all the troublesome work the clouds returned. The ones who have battled in the business world one day get old. The clouds return after the rain.
D. The keepers of the house tremble. The body is the house referred to here, and the keepers of the house are the hands and feet. The hands and feet of an aged person tremble, and the older he gets, the worse the trembling becomes.
E. The men of strength bow themselves. The loins become bent.
F. The grinders cease because they are few. The teeth are all gone, and even dentures will not work (v. 3, KJV).
G. Those who look out of the windows see dimly. The windows of a man are his eyes. Now the eyes are dimmed.
H. The doors are shut on the street. The ears become deaf, and no sound can get in.
I. The sound of the grinding is low. Even the chewing sound of his own mouth he cannot hear. What a deafness!
J. One arises at the sound of a bird. The older ones cannot sleep well during the night. The older one gets, the harder it is to have a good night’s sleep.
K. All the daughters of song are brought low. The vocal cords become low and hoarse.
L. They are afraid of what is high. Aged ones are afraid of high places.
M. Terrors are on the way. They are afraid of walking on the street.
N. The almond tree blossoms. The hair becomes white, as the white blossoms of the almond tree.
O. The grasshopper is a burden. They are without any strength at all.
P. Desire fails. They cannot have interest in anything (v. 5, KJV).
Q. Man goes to his eternal home: he dies.
R. The mourners going around in the street are a funeral procession.
S. The silver cord is undone: in the tomb the spine will become disconnected.
T. The golden bowl is broken. When it is buried in the grave, the skull is broken.
U. The pitcher is shattered at the fountain: the lungs will collapse.
V. The wheel is broken at the cistern. The cistern represents man’s eye, and the wheel represents the eyeball. Both of them will perish in the grave.
W. The dust returns to the earth: the dead body becomes dust.
VII. We must repent, confess our sins, and receive the Lord.
Scripture: Isa. 1:18
I. Sins are like scarlet:
А. All men have sin.
B. All the sins of men are deep and serious.
C. The sins of men are deep and serious to such an extent that they are like scarlet, which is a very bright red color that draws people’s attention. Many people’s sins are also like this; they are so deep and serious that they draw people’s attention.
D. The color red represents God’s condemnation. The color that symbolizes godliness is blue. Red is the color that symbolizes something satanic. In the Scriptures red is the color of blood, which is the color of death. Therefore, when the Bible says that your sins are as scarlet, it not only refers to how deeply serious your sins are, but it also signifies that sins are hated by God and ought to be terminated.
II. They will be as white as snow:
А. Snow white is a kind of natural white, rather than an artificial or a manufactured white.
B. How can sins become as white as snow? They can become white only by the cleansing of the blood. The blood is red, and by using red to eliminate red, it becomes snow white. If you look at a piece of red paper through a red glass, the red paper becomes white.
C. The blood of the Lord can wash sins away and make them pure white because the blood of the Lord satisfies the righteous requirement of God.
III. The way to become pure white:
А. You must confess that you are a sinner.
B. You must repent and confess your sins.
C. You must believe that Christ has shed His blood and borne your sins on the cross.
D. You must receive Christ as your Savior.
E. You must believe what is written in Isaiah 1:18, because the Lord has said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, / They will be as white as snow.”
Scripture: Isa. 9:6
I. The prophecies concerning the Savior:
Before the Savior came into this world, there were many prophecies concerning Him written in the Scriptures. The most numerous and clear prophecies concerning the Savior are found in the book of Isaiah. The most clear verse is Isaiah 9:6.
II. The position of the Savior:
А. Whatever job a person has, there must be a position for that job.
B. The Scriptures speak of the person, or the position, of the Savior.
C. The person of the Savior has two aspects. On one hand, He is a child born, who was given to us. On the other hand, He is the mighty God. When He was on the earth, He was the mighty God. He brought things that had no being into being, and He caused the stormy sea to be still. On one hand, He was the Son; on the other hand, He was the eternal Father. In coming to this world in time, He is the Son. Before He came into the world, He was the eternal Father. The Father is the source, and the Son is the revelation of the Father. God the Father came into time to be the Son. This is the wonderful Savior.
D. Because He is not only the child but also the mighty God, He is wonderful. He is the Son, and He is also the Father. He is in time, but He is also in eternity.
III. What the Savior is to us:
А. He is the Counselor. The mighty God is our Counselor:
1. This Counselor councils you in how to do things and provides solutions to your problems.
2. He is a wonderful Savior. No matter what difficulty you have, He always has a way to solve your problem for you. When you have sinned, He has shed His blood for you to redeem you from sin. If you are sick, He is able to heal you. When you are laboring, He will bear the burden for you. You have no way to heaven, but He is the way. If you have lost your money or if you have lost your son, He is able to find them and bring them back to you. Whatever problems you may have, He will solve them for you. You should give a lot of examples.
B. He is the Prince of Peace; the eternal Father becomes the Prince of Peace. After men have sinned, they have no peace with God and no peace with men. Whether it is a case of husbands and wives, schoolmates, doctors and nurses, or teachers and students, they all have no peace among them. But this wonderful Savior is the Prince of Peace. Once you have received Him, everything is in peace. We have to find many examples to prove this point. This is the good news of the gospel. The gospel is not just a high and deep doctrine, but it is the Lord’s way to solve the practical needs of man.
IV. The way to receive the Savior:
А. You must confess that you are a sinner.
B. You have to believe that the Savior is both God and man.
C. You have to believe that the Savior died for you.
D. You have to believe and receive Him as your Savior.
Scripture: Isa. 45:22
I. Man is separated from God:
А. Because man fell, he is separated from God.
B. To be separated from God means that man turns away from God, and forsakes Him, and then loses God’s presence.
II. Man looks at things lower than himself:
А. When man forsakes God, his heart turns toward things other than God. These things include parents, wife, children, possessions, money, and job or profession. In conclusion, whatever is outside of God are things.
B. When men turn to things, they pay their attention to them, and their hearts turn from God to things. All things are outside of God, and they are lower than man. Therefore, when man pays attention to things, he looks downward.
III. The anguish of man’s separation from God:
А. Outside of God, all things are death. All the anguish is a sign of death. All the anguish of man’s life shows, first, that he is separated from God.
B. In addition, the anguish foretells man’s death.
IV. God is man’s salvation:
А. Man has only one need — man needs God. All of man’s difficulties are due to the lack of God.
B. Man’s salvation is in God.
C. God is waiting for man to receive Him.
V. The way to obtain salvation:
А. To obtain salvation is to accept God, because God is our salvation.
B. First, God was crucified on the cross for us. Second, He resurrected and ascended. Third, today He is in the heavens waiting for men to accept Him as their Savior.
C. When man accepts God, he must look up unto God; he must look up unto the God who died on the cross, look up unto the God who ascended, look up unto the God who sits in the heavenlies to be our Savior. No matter whether we speak of His death, His resurrection, or His sitting in the heavenlies, He is always above us. It is just the opposite of all the things outside of God. They are all beneath us. Therefore, when we accept Him, we must look up unto Him.
VI. The result of looking up:
А. Sins are forgiven.
B. We receive God as our life.
C. We are saved from all anguish, including sin, death, judgment, and hell.
Scripture: Isa. 49:15
I. The source of man:
А. God compares the relationship between a mother and her nursing child to the relationship between God and man.
B. A child comes out of the mother; the mother is the source of the child. Therefore, the meaning of this verse is that we human beings have come out of God, and God is the source of man.
II. What God is to man:
А. What God is to man can be compared to what a mother is to a child.
B. The whole relationship of a mother to her nursing child is love. Likewise, the whole relationship of God to man is also love.
C. Men have a wrong concept concerning the relationship of God to man, and we need to correct that wrong concept according to the two points just mentioned. People think that God is severely strict toward men, just like a judge. But in reality God is like a loving mother to man.
III. The love of God is so excelling:
А. There is no problem with the nature of a mother’s love, but there is a limitation of power with a mother’s love. There is a limitation of a mother’s ability to carry out what the mother’s love is longing for.
B. In nature, the love of God is like a mother’s love, but with the love of God the power is unlimited. Many a time a mother’s love would not be able to help; however, wherever God’s love is, there is also the power to fulfill all that God’s love longs for.
C. Furthermore, the love of God not only excels the love of a mother in power and strength, but the nature of the love of God also excels the nature of a mother’s love. As a matter of fact, a mother’s love is limited. Even though a woman can scarcely forget her nursing child, yet there is still the possibility that she could forget. That is why it says in Isaiah 49:15, “Even though they may forget, / Yet I will not forget you.” This is not a matter of power but a matter of the heart. A mother’s loving heart may be limited, but the love of God is forever unlimited. That is why the heart of God can never forget us.
IV. The manifestation of God’s love:
А. God’s love is manifested through nature. Although there are numerous calamities in the universe, and nature also has its dark side, yet nature is still a blessing to man and is positive and bright. This is the manifestation of God’s love through nature.
B. The principle is the same in man’s experiences. Although each of us has experienced a lot of suffering and many a misfortune in our lives, nevertheless, speaking in principle, we also have a lot of happiness and goodness and blessing in our lives.
C. Points A and B, on the one hand, will eliminate men’s concept that the universe is dark and evil, and on the other hand, they will remove people’s concept that they are unfortunate. Principally, man’s life is good and happy. The blessings and happiness prove to us the love of God toward men.
D. God’s love is manifested through God’s redemption. The most obvious manifestation of God’s love is the sending of His Son to accomplish redemption for man.
E. This is the center of this gospel message. In explaining the accomplishment of the Lord’s redemption, stress and expound how the Lord became flesh, accomplished redemption, and shed His blood for man.
F. God’s love is manifested through the gospel. Because God loves us, He not only accomplished redemption for us but also arranged our environment and sent someone to bring the gospel of redemption to us. We never had any intention of hearing God’s gospel or of listening to it. We were like a ship floating on the sea that happened to bump into someone who was preaching the gospel. This is the manifestation of God’s love.
V. How to receive God’s love:
А. Acknowledge that God has something to do with you.
B. Acknowledge that you need God’s love. We should touch people’s feeling. Explain how warm a thing love is. Men need the warmth of love the most. But none of the worldly loves can be warm enough to meet man’s need. Only the love of God has the real warmth.
C. Confess that you have been ungrateful toward God. God has loved us so much, but we have come short of Him.
D. From the four points under point IV we see how ungrateful we have been toward God. Do not talk about theology too much; rather, speak from the aspect of love.
E. Accept the love of the cross. The love of the cross is the highest manifestation of God’s love. If you want to receive the love of God, you must accept the love of the cross.
Scripture: Isa. 53
I. God prepared a Savior for man:
А. Man did not seek God’s salvation; it was God who came to save man.
B. When God wanted to save man, He had to prepare a Savior for him.
C. The reason God had to prepare a Savior for man is that God is righteous. His love caused Him to come to save man. His righteousness required that He prepare a Savior for him.
II. The person of the Savior:
А. The Savior is the arm of God. The arm refers to power and strength. Therefore, the arm of the Lord is the power of God. The power of God is just God Himself. God, when manifesting Himself to be our saving power, is our Savior.
B. The Savior is God revealed to be our saving power, yet He came as a poor man. Therefore, Isaiah 53:2 says, “He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground.” This refers to the fact that the Lord was brought up in a poor family. He is the almighty God, but He became a poor man. Because He was poor and like a root out of dry ground, He had no attracting form nor majesty. There is no beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. Chapter 52 of this book says that His visage was marred more than that of any man, and His form more than that of the sons of men. Today all the so-called pictures of Jesus are unscriptural. They all portray Him as One who is so desirable. But the Jesus of that time had no beautiful appearance that men should desire Him.
III. The Savior’s sufferings:
А. He was a man of sorrows. We should quote all the verses in Isaiah 53. A very special term is used in Isaiah 53:3, a man of sorrows.
B. His whole life, from the manger to the cross, was full of sorrows. He was born in sorrow and suffered continually until He was finally laid to rest in the tomb. This is to speak of His sufferings from the manger to the cross.
Hymns, #628 can be used as a reference.
C. The sufferings during His lifetime came from three directions: from man, from God, and from Satan. What came from man was the suffering of persecutions. What came from Satan was the suffering of attacks. What came from God was the suffering of punishment.
IV. The Savior’s bearing of sins:
А. The righteousness of God requires that God judge man’s sins.
B. God put all the sins of mankind upon the Savior. Quote verse 6: “Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him.”
C. Because God laid all the iniquities of mankind on the Savior, the judgments of God toward men were also inflicted upon the Savior’s body.
D. Because God judged this Savior who bore our sins, He was bruised.
E. There is the evidence of bearing sin: He “was numbered with the transgressors” (v. 12). This shows that God looked at Him at that time as He would look at a sinner, because He was bearing our sins.
V. The Savior’s accomplishment:
The Savior has fully accomplished His saving work and has become a perfect Savior.
А. The Savior has borne our sins to satisfy the righteous requirement of God. Therefore, the situation at the time of His burial was different from the situation at the time of His death. While He was dying, He was numbered with the transgressors; but when He was buried, He was put into a rich man’s tomb, because He had satisfied the righteous requirement of God.
B. God raised Him from the dead. This resurrection is what is spoken of in Isaiah 53:10: “He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand.” Because He has resurrected from the dead, He can be the Savior in resurrection, and He can accomplish that which is pleasing to God. Therefore, it is also said in verse 11, “He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied.”
C. In His resurrection He has gained, together with God, all the people who should be saved. Verse 12 says, “Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong.” The Great is God; the Strong is also God. He resurrected from the dead and enjoys the result of salvation with God. This result is to recapture people from the hand of Satan.
D. Because of Christ’s resurrection and ascension, He causes so many people to obtain His salvation and to be justified because of Him.
VI. How to accept the Savior:
А. The way to accept is to believe. In the very beginning of this chapter it says, “Who has believed our report?” (v. 1).
B. To believe is to receive with your heart and your spirit. Not only acknowledge Him as your Savior but also open your heart to receive Him as your Savior.
C. According to Romans 10:13, the believers must call, and calling includes the confessing of sins: “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Scripture: Isa. 53:5-6, 10, 12
I. Man has gone astray. “We all like sheep have gone astray; / Each of us has turned to his own way” (v. 6):
А. All men in the world are sheep in the hand of God.
B. But man has turned to his own way. Use examples to show that men live on the earth and do things according to their own will.
C. Because man has turned to his own way, he has committed all kinds of transgressions and iniquities in the sight of God.
II. God’s judgment:
А. God’s righteousness requires God to judge man.
B. God’s love causes God to save man.
C. Therefore, God caused the Savior to bear our sins and to be judged in our stead.
D. The way God judged the Savior on the cross was to put the Savior to death; He wounded and bruised the Savior so that He tasted death for us.
III. The Savior’s bearing of our sins:
А. Not only was the Savior, who was nailed on the cross, persecuted by men, but moreover, He was chastised and punished by God.
B. The fact that the Savior was persecuted by men is a proof that men are against God. The fact that the Savior was punished by God proves that God saves man.
C. The reason God punished the Savior was that God caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Therefore, during the latter part of His crucifixion, God had to forsake Him. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). God had forsaken Him because of sin. The Savior had no sin, so God ought not to forsake Him. But He was bearing the sins of men; therefore, God did forsake Him. If the Lord were only suffering the persecution of men, then God should be with Him all the more, just as in the case of a martyr like Stephen, who was full of the presence of God during the time of martyrdom. Therefore, the fact that the Savior was forsaken proves that He was not a martyr but a sin-bearing One.
IV. How to accept the Savior:
А. Return from the path of error. You must confess that you are a lost sheep and turn back from the way of error.
B. Repent. To turn back is an outward action, but to repent is an inward change. To turn back is to say that my way is wrong. But to repent is to say that my being is wrong. To turn back is to say that the direction of my life is wrong, but to repent is to say that my living is wrong.
C. Confess your sins. Since God has caused your sins to fall on the Savior and has let Him bear them for you, you must therefore confess your sins.
D. Believe in the Savior, receive the Savior into your heart, and take Him as your Savior.
This message could be very powerful, if inspired. It is practical and sound in truth as well.
Scripture: Isa. 57:20-21
When we preach the gospel, we have to be careful in choosing words and topics. Try not to close people’s hearts the moment that you open your mouth.
I. Everything in the universe has a law:
А. Use enough examples to let people see that everything in the universe has a law. Not only do the stars have their laws, but in the existence of all living creatures there are laws. Try not to give too many examples, but use just enough to prove that everything in the universe has a law.
B. If any kind of living thing that exists in the universe follows its own law, then it will be at peace. If it goes against the law, then it will have no rest.
What we have said so far is to lay the foundation.
II. The law of human life:
А. The law of human life is based upon the relationship between God and man.
No doubt when we preach the gospel, we must rely upon the Holy Spirit, but we also have to catch people’s thought. Because there are many in the meeting with well trained minds, the thoughts of the one who preaches should not be lacking in refinement.
B. God is very orderly. Therefore, the human life planned by God is also very orderly. Expound this point.
C. The order that God has set up for man’s life is good, bright, righteous, kind, and upright. These five points should be explained in detail, from both the positive and the negative sides. For example, the opposite of good is evil, and everything that is not orderly is evil.
III. The abnormality of human life:
А. The order that God has set up for man’s life is almost entirely contradicted by man. God ordered that man’s life should be good, bright, righteous, kind, and upright. But in reality man is evil, dark, jealous, hateful, unrighteous, and crooked. Describe the negative side.
B. Because man’s life is so abnormal and contrary to the order set up by God, his life is full of evil.
C. The evil of man’s life is his rebellion against God’s law. Take for example: stealing, not loving others, having envy against his classmates, disrespect toward his parents, not loving his colleagues, not helping a person who is suffering, and having no sympathy toward a poor beggar. All these are against God’s law.
When we preach, we must touch people’s feeling. If you want to hit someone, you should hit him hard. Hit him all over until he is very sensitive; then he will be saved.
D. The evil in human life causes life to be out of balance. Therefore, the human life becomes a life without peace. Since it is out of balance, the human life is restless.
IV. Life’s restlessness:
А. The restlessness of life is manifested in man’s conscience. When man goes against the good laws of God, there is the restless feeling of condemnation in his conscience. When a man steals, his conscience jumps up and down. If you have done something wrong or have lied, you would tremble if someone should point at you. This is why a lie detector can test the inner situation of a person. The Chinese have a saying in the same principle: “Discern a person according to his expressions.”
B. The restlessness of a person’s heart: If you spend money that you earned by your own labor and hard work, you feel an inner calm and a sweet sense within. But if you spend money that has been stolen from others, you will feel uneasy. Another example: if you use your money to support and honor your parents, your heart feels peaceful. But if you keep the money for your own luxury or to spend on others behind your spouse’s back, then your heart will be uneasy. The whole reason you feel uneasy and have a sense of fear is that you have contradicted God’s laws.
C. The restlessness in the environment: After a short time anything stolen may be exposed. Even if they are not exposed, a few days later you may have a car accident, or you may meet a pickpocket, or you may hit someone riding a bicycle. For three months you have tried your best to embezzle in your office or business to get two thousand dollars. Then you fell down and had to stay in the hospital, and the hospital bill was three thousand dollars. These are examples of the restlessness in the environment.
D. These three points of restlessness are all caused by man’s disobedience of God’s law. The restlessness is God’s reprimand. It is like a train. If it is derailed, something is out of order. God’s laws are like the rails. If the conscience is restless, that is your warning telling you to repent.
E. God’s laws are meant to bring you to repentance. If you do not obey, in the future you will fall into the lake of everlasting fire. You will have no peace forever. Therefore, God said, “There is no peace...for the wicked” (Isa. 57:21). The life of the wicked is like the tossing sea. Its waters toss up mire and mud.
Use some examples to describe how peaceful it is whenever anyone honors his parents or gets along well with his neighbors, and how restless it is otherwise. Explain from both the negative and the positive sides.
V. The way of peace for man’s life:
А. Explain that in our life, the source of peace is God. Just as God is the source of good and light, He is also the source of peace. When a man has God, he has peace. If he does not have God, he has no peace. Therefore, if you want to have peace, you must turn back to God and receive God, because God is the way to have peace.
B. Repent and forsake evil. Evil makes a man restless. But God gives men peace. Therefore, to obtain peace we must forsake evil and turn back to God.
C. Receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior of peace. The Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross to solve the problem of man’s sin before God, to accomplish eternal peace, and to reconcile men to God. The salvation and redemption of the Lord Jesus will give men peace. For this reason you must receive this Savior as your Savior.
D. Many people have accepted the Savior. They not only have the peace within but also have a peaceful environment without.
Scripture: Isa. 64:6
I. Man is like an unclean thing:
In the Hebrew language the unclean person is called an unclean thing (KJV).
А. Man’s nature is soiled.
B. Man’s heart is soiled.
C. Man’s thought is soiled.
D. Man’s behavior is soiled.
E. Man’s whole being is soiled.
Therefore, it says here that man is like an unclean thing. Although you may consider yourself a moral man, you should check whether your mind is really clean or not. A tiny spot of black makes an entire white shirt dirty. Any dirty spot also makes your behavior unclean.
II. Man’s righteousness is like a soiled garment, like filthy rags:
А. Man is filthy. Although man’s righteousness is good in one sense, it is still filthy. Nothing clean can come out of uncleanness. If you hold a piece of candy with a dirty hand, the candy will be dirty also. Although you give alms to the poor and honor your parents, all these good deeds and efforts are defiled because your being is soiled, you consider yourself a humble person, yet you condemn others. You love one man, yet you hate another. You honor your parents, yet you condemn others who dishonor their parents. Since your righteousness is mixed with filthiness, although you are a gentleman, you are filthy.
B. Therefore, it says here in the Bible that all our righteousnesses are like soiled garments. Your righteousnesses are not only soiled but also like rags. How can we make clothes out of rags to cover our bodies? Adam sewed leaves together, but his shame could not be covered by his own effort. Therefore, God came in and clothed him. You honor your parents, but you also lose your temper. How many holes you have in your righteousness! So, friend, although you are a righteous person, your righteousnesses still mean nothing because they are soiled garments. Emphasize the point of man’s righteousnesses being like soiled garments. A good presentation of the gospel conquers a self-righteous person.
III. Man withers like a leaf:
It is very meaningful that God brought in the word wither here. Leaves wither under the breeze of autumn; then the wind takes them away.
А. All self-righteous men are those who will never receive nourishment deep within. The harder they try to do something, the faster they fade away, and the less water they have. This water is just God and God’s grace. You consider yourself a righteous man, but deep within, you lack God and God’s grace.
B. Man withers away because he is cut off from God.
C. Man is cut off from God because of sin, but he is cut off further from God because of his self-righteousness. Man’s sin separates him from God. However, man does not confess the sin that he has, and he considers himself to be righteous. This self-righteousness separates man further from God.
D. Since man is cut off from God, he has lost all his supply and nourishment. Therefore, man withers away.
IV. Man’s iniquities are like the wind, carrying man away:
А. Since man has withered, he can be easily carried away.
B. The iniquities not only cause man to wither away but have also carried man away from God. Iniquities separate man from God, bring judgment to man, separate man from God’s supply, and bring God’s anger upon man.
C. Man sinned and gave up God. It would have still been tolerable to God if man had confessed his sins. However, because of self-righteousness man could never confess his sins. Therefore, man was separated further from God. Man was further dried up. The judgment that sin brought in eventually carries man away.
V. Conclusion — the way for man to be saved:
А. Man must humble himself, not only to confess that he has sinned and sinned against God but also to confess the self-righteousness, which cannot stand before God. In God’s presence our own righteousnesses are like soiled garments.
B. Man must repent and turn to God to receive God’s supply.
C. Man must receive the Lord Jesus as the Savior of righteousness. The Lord bore our sin on the cross so that we may be justified before God. He has also entered into us to become our righteousness.
Scripture: Jer. 2:13
I. Forsaking God:
А. God is everything to human life. God is also the full supply for man’s need.
B. God is the fountain of living waters to man. A fountain is the source of water supply. Water is something for quenching thirst. This is to say that God can satisfy all of man’s thirst, because God is the fountain of living waters.
C. Man has forsaken God, who is the fountain of living waters.
D. Man’s forsaking God is not only a loss but also a sin. It is like children forsaking their parents. Therefore, God said in Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two evils.” The first evil is forsaking God.
E. Man’s forsaking God is a loss and a sin as well, so two things result from this: suffering and condemnation. Suffering means there is no peace in the outward circumstances. Condemnation means there is no peace within our hearts. Since forsaking God is a loss and causes suffering, there will be no peace in the outward circumstances. Since forsaking God causes condemnation, there will be no peace but suffering in our hearts.
II. Man devising his own way — “hew out for themselves cisterns” (v. 13):
А. All those who have forsaken God want to do something in their own way.
B. God is the fountain of living water, supplying water to men. Man’s own efforts are broken cisterns from which water is leaking out.
C. Give practical examples to show in what things God is the fountain of living waters and that human effort is the broken cisterns:
1. The precious blood that God shed for us on the cross has become the fountain of living waters to cleanse away our sin. Islam and Buddhism teach people to establish their own merit, to cultivate morality, and to make up for their shortcomings by good works. All these are broken cisterns.
2. The life that God has released is the fountain of living waters. This life can give people strength to do good. However, if men depend upon their own strength, the more they try, the more they will fail. This is just a broken cistern.
3. Human life is hungry, thirsty, and never satisfied. Only God’s living water can satisfy man. To try to quench thirst by man’s own methods, knowledge, and ability is a broken cistern.
4. Conclusion: Man devising his own way is not dependable.
III. The way of salvation:
А. Drop your own way, as the Samaritan woman who left her waterpot.
B. Turn to God; that is, turn from your own way to God.
C. Repent and confess your sins.
D. Believe and receive Christ as your own Savior, because God in Christ is your Savior today.
