"Broken Cisterns and Living Waters": The Prophetic Voice of Jeremiah for Today's Church
In a world characterized by spiritual confusion, moral decline, and endless pursuits that fail to satisfy, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones's powerful expositions of the Book of Jeremiah speak with remarkable relevance. His sermon series from this ancient prophet reveals timeless truths about humanity's deepest problems and God's unchanging remedy.
Jeremiah's Indictment: As True Today as Ever
What makes Dr. Lloyd-Jones's treatment of Jeremiah so compelling is how he draws direct parallels between ancient Israel's spiritual condition and our modern predicament. As he explains in his sermon "Life Without God":
"The world is in terrible trouble tonight. The world is in awful trouble. The world is a place of unhappiness. The world is ill at ease. The world is perplexed and bewildered and doesn't understand and doesn't know and doesn't realize what it ought to be doing."
This state of affairs, Dr. Lloyd-Jones insists, stems from the same fundamental problem Jeremiah diagnosed in his day: humanity has turned away from the living God to pursue its own empty solutions. The prophet's question still demands an answer: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?" (Jeremiah 2:5)
The Two Great Evils: Rejecting God and Creating Substitutes
In his sermon "Fountain of Living Waters," Dr. Lloyd-Jones examines Jeremiah 2:13, which he calls the essence of humanity's problem: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Lloyd-Jones masterfully unpacks this metaphor, explaining that these two evils represent humanity's fundamental mistake. First, we reject God himself—the only true source of life and satisfaction. Second, we attempt to create our own alternatives—philosophies, pursuits, and pleasures that ultimately cannot satisfy.
"Everyone must consider what they are chasing in life and if it will last," Dr. Lloyd-Jones states. "All seek satisfaction from a worldview that is either like a cistern of stagnant water or a fountain of flowing, living water."
He draws a stark contrast between these two approaches to life:
The Broken Cisterns: - Entirely human-made, with no divine authority - Require constant maintenance yet still fail - Limited in capacity and depth - Provide only stagnant, stale water - Break down over time and cannot ultimately satisfy
The Fountain of Living Waters: - Always existed, originated with God - Inexhaustible in its supply and depth - Fresh, cool, and life-giving - Permanently satisfying - Available freely to all who come
The Failure of Modern Authority
One of the most striking aspects of Dr. Lloyd-Jones's Jeremiah series is his piercing analysis of how authority has shifted in modern times. In "The Only Authority," he laments how religious leaders—like the priests, prophets, and princes of Jeremiah's day—have often abandoned biblical authority while maintaining their religious titles and terminology.
"The Bible is no longer the standard by which people operate," he observes. "They've put this aside. The Bible is no longer the authority. It's no longer regarded as God's word... The authority is no longer God and his word. The authority is man and his reason, his knowledge, his understanding."
This shift in authority, Lloyd-Jones argues, has led to profound confusion about what Christianity actually teaches, resulting in distortions regarding:
- The nature of God
- The person and work of Christ
- The meaning of sin and salvation
- The reality of judgment and eternity
Dr. Lloyd-Jones boldly challenges this modern approach: "Let men say what they will, whatever their office, whether they be priests or prophets, bishops, clergy, preachers, professors, let them call themselves what they will, here and here alone is God's truth. You reject it at the peril of your soul."
The Emptiness of Life Without God
Throughout his Jeremiah sermons, Dr. Lloyd-Jones movingly portrays the emptiness of life without God. In "Life Without God," he explores what happens when people reject their Creator:
"A life without God is aimless, futile, and leads to decline in how people view themselves, their intellect, emotions, and willpower."
He demonstrates that this emptiness manifests in two primary ways:
- The desires of the flesh - When bodily appetites and natural drives that should be controlled instead control us
- The desires of the mind - When intellectual pursuits, ambitions, or emotions become dominating lusts
Most striking is his observation that even the most respectable intellectual pursuits can become idolatrous substitutes for God:
"The lust for knowledge, the lust for learning. Therefore, literature, art, music, drama, philosophy, they all come in. These things are all right, but not if you live for them. Not if they master you. Not if they've become a drive in your life which you can't control."
The Only True Remedy
The heart of Dr. Lloyd-Jones's message from Jeremiah is not merely an indictment—it points to the only true remedy for our spiritual condition. In "Fountain of Living Waters," he directs his listeners to Jesus Christ, who offers himself as the ultimate fulfillment of Jeremiah's metaphor:
"Jesus offers a fountain of flowing, living water designed to satisfy the deepest longings of the soul in Himself. In contrast to the cistern, this living water is rooted in God's unchanging authority, providing a bedrock upon which one can establish their life."
This remedy provides what our human substitutes never can:
- Forgiveness instead of guilt
- Peace instead of restlessness
- Power for moral transformation
- Knowledge of God instead of mere facts about Him
- Comfort in suffering
- Hope in the face of death
Timeless Warnings for Modern Hearts
Visit the MLJ Trust's Jeremiah sermon series page to explore these profound expositions in full. As you listen, you'll find that Lloyd-Jones doesn't simply explain ancient words—he applies them directly to the condition of modern hearts.
His analysis reveals that despite our technological progress and scientific advancements, humanity's fundamental problem remains unchanged. We continue to forsake "the fountain of living waters" for our own broken cisterns. We still look to human wisdom, pleasure, achievement, and wealth to satisfy desires that only God can fulfill.
When Dr. Lloyd-Jones preached these messages at Westminster Chapel, he wasn't merely interpreting ancient texts—he was diagnosing the spiritual illness of his age and pointing to the eternal remedy. His words speak with even greater urgency today as our society continues to pursue satisfaction through means that cannot ultimately deliver.
As he powerfully states in "The Only Authority":
"What do we need? We need, I say, to come back to this. We need an authority. We must begin to ask, 'Where is the Lord?' I'm tired of hearing about science and about philosophy. That's all but the result of man's mind and man's reason and man's understanding, and it isn't working."
Discover these timeless expositions of Jeremiah and experience how an ancient prophet's message speaks with remarkable clarity to our modern condition. Through Dr. Lloyd-Jones's careful handling of Scripture, you'll find not only profound diagnosis of our spiritual illness but also the life-giving remedy that comes only through returning to "the fountain of living waters."