Text: Jeremiah 4:2229

Topic: How God restores us from sin's consequences.

Introduction: Jeremiah had a "primal and unstoppable" message.

• Two notes from a movie score got our attention.

Illustration: Two ominous notes from Jaws, that threatening EF punch, meant only one thing: Lunchtime for Great White. Composer John Williams delivered a sound that was "very primal and unstoppable."

• Two "notes" in Jeremiah 4 describe sin's result: "formless" and "empty."

Disconnection from God begins the decreation process.

• Judah's sin will result in its unwinding "like a bad polyester suit."
• Because of Judah's sin, God withdraws his favor.
• Message is relevant today: When we disconnect, we deconstruct.

This warning is no mere hyperbole.

• Jeremiah's warnings are not merely illustrative; he's "dead on the money."
• Habitual sin causes us to "decreate"

Illustration: Pride leads to ulcers.

Illustration: Lust leads to degenerated relationships.

Illustration: Fear leads to people distancing from you.

Illustration: Immoderate use of food, alcohol, work destroys you.

Illustration: In "The Great Divorce," C.S. Lewis says we can "objectify" sin at first, but unless God intervenes, sin can become like "an encroachment from hell."

Reconnection with God produces recreation.

• God told humans to rule and care for Creation.

Illustration: It's the "equivalent of Michelangelo getting a bunch of elementary school kids, giving them and saying, 'You add to the Sistine Chapel. Put stuff up there I missed.' It's an unbelievable gift."

God wants us to work with him in recreation.

• God invites us to join him in recreation by connecting to him.

Isaiah and Revelation promise decreation and recreation.

• In Isaiah 24, God says he'll "lay waste" the whole earth.
• Later in Isaiah, God promises recreation—overflowing with blessings
• In Revelation 22:13, God shows us Eden—the " recreation."

We anticipate rebirth and restoration.

• When God enters us, it's not just a new beginning, it's rebirth.
• The Holy Spirit's marks on us aren't just "characteristics," but fruit.
• Redemption brings life from death, water from rock, manna from heaven.

Illustration: A man, dying of cancer, always answered "How are you?" by saying, "I'm saved." N wouldn't know what to say, and the man would then share his faith. When he died, he kept repeating one verse: "We know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14).