How many of you would say that the things you value most have changed over the course of your life? I’m guessing all of us would admit that our values have definitely changed over the years. Like when some of us were teenagers or college students, we valued staying up as late as possible. Now we only celebrate the nights we’re in bed by 9:30. When I first moved to San Francisco, I was appalled that I had to pay for parking. I had never really valued parking before, mostly because it was free everywhere I had previously lived. But now I pay $14.75 to park on Brannan Street during the week and I’m telling everyone I can about what a great deal I’m getting. Over time, our values change. Some things become way more valuable to us while other things become way less valuable to us.

Speaking of the value of things, have you ever been ripped off before? Have you ever paid for something, only to realize later that it wasn’t worth what you paid for it?

From 2005 – 2008, I was a pastor to college students at The University of Alabama. The church I worked for was literally across the street from the football stadium. Even after I left that role, I was still a huge Alabama football fan. In 2009, Alabama went undefeated and was scheduled to play the University of Texas in the National Championship Game. I found 4 tickets online and bought them. And you’re thinking, “That’s so cool that you were in the stadium for the national championship game.” Only I wasn’t in the stadium for the big game. I paid multiple thousands of dollars and never received the tickets. I had been scammed. Has anyone else ever been scammed before?

scam – a deceptive scheme or trick used to cheat someone out of something

Is it possible that we could be scamming our own hearts, deceiving them from the very thing they were made for? Today we are wrapping up this Hearts on Fire series. And I’m calling today’s message, “Ripping Off Your Heart”.

Jeremiah 2:1-13 The word of the LORD came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the LORD. Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel. This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Have you ever heard a person talk about a time in the past that they fondly remember? This is how God begins his address to his own people. “I remember what we used to share together. You loved me. You were devoted to me. You followed me.” When someone speaks about the past in this way, we can assume that what once was is no longer.

Does God talk about your devotion to Him in the present tense or only in the past tense?

God then goes on to remind them of all He has done for them. “What fault did you find in me that you strayed so far and began to follow worthless idols?” It’s as if God wants to ask us this question:

“Is there something wrong with me that has caused you to distance yourself from me?” - God

You did not look for me, even though I am the God who: brought you out of Egypt, led you through the wilderness, drought, and darkness; and brought you into a fertile land.”

Have we forgotten what God fondly remembers?

Have you ever read where groups of people saw God do genuine miracles and then it says they “forgot the Lord their God” and thought, “How is that possible?”

Psalm 78:11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

If we want to keep our hearts on fire for God, we must employ practices that remind us of who our God is and all our God has done for us. I literally start my day this way – several minutes of silence, then I get my journal out and put Gratitude and just start listing as many things as come to my mind. This practice helps me begin my day by reminding me of who God is and all He has done.

God claims that his people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.

“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Idols aren’t bad simply because they take the place of God, though that’s a pretty big deal too. Idols cannot provide what we’re asking them to give us.  We get scammed by idols because they make such alluring promises to us.

Wealth says, “I’m your ticket to the joy you’ve been searching for.”

Power says, “I’m the path to finally make you who you’ve always wanted to be.”

Sex says, “I’ll provide the kind of satisfaction you’ve only dreamed of.”

Achievement says, “You’ll never have to worry about feeling inferior ever again.”

Satan tried to tempt Jesus with promise-making idols.

Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Jesus knew something that he wants us to know – you literally cannot have more than one god. So if you decide there’s a better god than the one true God, you’ll always be willing to give up Jesus to have what your heart actually wants more.

Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

We are always making exchanges based on what we want and value most. And the only way we can make wise exchanges is if we truly know what something is worth. But if you don’t know what something is worth, the chances of you getting ripped off go way up.

In the 1980s, Debra Goddard bought a piece of costume jewelry for $13 second-hand. Thirty three years later, she decided to sell the ring, hoping to raise a little cash after her mom lost a fortune to fraud. When she took the ring to a jeweler, she was stunned to discover that the costume ring was actually a 25.27 carat diamond worth an estimated value of $607k.

God says there are two things that have happened when we exchange Him for anything else.

Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Every human heart is thirsty, which means we’re all on a quest for deep satisfaction. And we will try anything and everything in search of lasting fulfillment.

One of the most painful, but best things for us is to get the very thing we set our hearts on, only to realize that it never had the ability to give us what we were asking it to give us.

Why do I say that this painful reality could be one of the best things for us? Because if it actually satisfied us, we could be content to live our entire lives without ever knowing the wonder and deep satisfaction of Jesus.

God says my people have forsaken me and they have dug their own cisterns. A cistern held leftover water to begin with. Cisterns caught rainwater that would allow people to have water in seasons when rain was absent. Even if the cistern was in good shape, it still only held leftover water. But God says that when you set your heart on something else besides him, it’s like having a broken cistern that can’t even hold the leftover water.

What are the broken cisterns in your life?

These are the things you’re asking to provide what they literally do not have the ability to provide. Let’s be honest – being content with cistern water makes sense if there’s no fresh water source to be found. And your idols make complete sense, if there is no glorious God to be found. But God says, “They have forsaken me, the SPRING of LIVING WATER.” In other words, there’s a source who provides a never-ending supply of what you’ve been looking for your whole life. Jesus echoed this in John 7.

John 7:37-39 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes, rivers of living water will flow. What’s the prerequisite for living water? Thirsty. Come to Jesus. Believe He is who He says He is. What if God becomes my chief desire, but I find out he’s not interested in coming close to me?

“In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also has desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above all treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God can walk unhindered; toward them He can act like the God He is.” A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

God loves it when we worship him personally and corporately in gatherings like this one.

Name your broken cisterns. Come to Jesus, the source of Living Water.