Have you ever heard the saying: ‘you made your bed so you must sleep in it’? Or, ‘what goes around comes around’? Or, you ‘reap what you sow’? Or, ‘you get what’s coming to you’? All of these little ‘sayings’ can be summed up by the simple truth that there are consequences for our sin. As believer’s in Christ it is true that our sins are covered by the blood. “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.” The blood of Jesus has covered all our sin. Past, present, and future. It’s all under the blood! We do not have to pay the ultimate price of sin. We do not have to go to hell. Why? Because Jesus has redeemed us. He has justified us. He has pardoned us! However, though we are forgiven and though the ultimate penalty of sin has been removed; there are still consequences for our sin in this life. In Jeremiah 2:14-28 we see the consequences of Judah’s sin. In consideration of this passage we find four basic questions asked of the people of Judah and these are also questions that we should ask of ourselves when addressing our sin problem.

                Who do you blame? In verses 14-16 Judah is given the example of Israel’s disobedience and what happened to them. The question is asked if Israel is a servant or a slave. The New American Commentary says, “In Jeremiah’s world a person could become a slave by birth to slave parents, by nonpayment of debts, by purchase, or by capture in war time. Although the Lord had made Israel free (Exod 6:6–8), Jeremiah reminded the people that they had exchanged their freedom under God for bondage to idols.”^[1] Verses 15-16 goes on to describe how Judah did not learn from Israel’s experience. Judah turned to Egypt and to Assyria for help and it brought destruction upon themselves. They aligned themselves with wicked nations. By doing so, they were enslaving themselves. In verse 17 the question is asked: “Have you not brought this upon yourself?” Judah is looking down the barrel of inevitable judgement. They have not learned from the example of Israel. They have aligned themselves with wicked nations. They have followed after false gods and have worshipped idols. Now they are suffering for it. Warren Wiersbe writes, “God redeemed the Jews from Egypt and gave them freedom in Canaan, but now their nation had gone back into bondage because of its idolatry. By allying with its pagan neighbors—Egypt and Assyria—instead of trusting the Lord, Judah had become a vassal state and was being plundered and enslaved.”^[2] The Lord says to Judah that they have no one to blame but themselves because they abandoned Him and turned to idols. Who do you blame when you sin? Too often we have the tendency to blame other people or to blame our circumstances or even to blame God. The truth is that we have no one to blame but ourselves. You cannot blame someone else for your sinful behavior. It does not matter who has influenced you or how strong the temptation. You are the one that made the choice. You are the one that disobeyed. You are the one that did wrong. Therefore, you cannot complain about the consequences that have come as a result of your sin. It is your own fault that you are in the position that you are in.

                What will you gain? In verses 18-19 the Lord asks Judah why they have conspired with foreign lands. In the CSB it reads: “what will you gain?” The Lord essentially says, “What good will come by turning to Egypt and Assyria?” The Lord is asking us the same question today. “What will you gain by turning to the world?” My friend, nothing good will come from flirting with the world. Just like a smoke filled room, you cannot walk through it without having the stench all over you. The only thing you gain from worldliness is more worldliness. The only thing you gain from sin is more sin which brings more judgement. “A basic principle is enunciated in verse 19: God punishes us by allowing our own sins to bring pain and discipline to our lives.”^[3] “The greatest judgment God can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins.”^[4] The consequence of sin is sin itself. When we rebel against God and we go by the way of the world rather than choosing to walk in holiness, we will incur more sinful habits which invites more destruction in our lives. It is what we often refer to as the downward spiral of sin. It is the depravity of man. Too often we tend to walk on the edge. We get as close to the world as we can without falling in. My friend, you cannot live that way. The closer you get to the world, the greater the world will influence you. Therefore, you should stay as far away from the world as possible. Don’t flirt with sin. It will bite you. It will consume you. It will destroy you. There is nothing to gain from turning to the world.

                How can you hide? Verses 20-21 describes the filth of Judah’s sin. Just like a prostitute, they have given themselves over to wicked men by aligning with pagan nations. Brothers and Sisters, as born-again believers in Christ, we are citizens of a Heavenly Kingdom. We are not citizens of this earth. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We serve the Kingdom of God as ambassadors of the Kingdom to this wicked world. Therefore, when we adopt the ways of the world, we are aligning ourselves with a pagan land. We are committing spiritual adultery. Just like the stain of adultery, we cannot wash ourselves from the filth. Verse 22 says though you wash yourself with bleach, you cannot rid yourself from the stench of your sin. The Lord tells Judah that their iniquity is marked. He sees it. He cannot ignore it. It is obvious. It is visible. It is undeniable. The scripture says that your sin will find you out. You cannot hide your sin. You cannot cover it up. Just like Adam in the garden, you cannot hide from God.

                Where can you turn? The people of Judah made excuses for their sin. Yet, like a drunken lustful animal, they sought after idols. The idols did not come to them. They went to the idols. They were addicted to their sin. Verses 22-28 describe the foolishness of idol worship. The question is asked if they are really going to turn to a stone or to a tree for help. Such foolishness! “Israel acknowledged wood and stone idols carved by human hands as the source of life. But when trouble came, the same people would turn to God and demand, “Come and save us,” a presumptuous command rather than a repentant plea.”^[5] Sadly, like many of us today, Judah turned to God as a last resort. There was no true repentance. How often do we parade with the world and when trouble comes we turn to God to rescue us? How often do we turn to God to get out of the mess we created only to return right back to it after He bails us out?

                We are so disgusting. Think about it. We flirt with the world. We wallow in sin. Then when we fear the consequences of sin bearing down on us we cry out to God to save us. However, after He forgives us and gives us a fresh start, we return to our sin all too quickly like a dog returning to its vomit. We are no different than the people of Judah. We are depraved in the worst kind of way. May God help us to truly repent so that we may not live in the consequences of our sin.

^[1] Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 64). Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (pp. 25–26). Victor Books.

^[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (p. 26). Victor Books.

^[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (p. 26). Victor Books.

^[5] Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 67). Broadman & Holman Publishers.