1. Pickup a newspaper, tune into the news - stories of horror, death and selfishness - they never miss an abandoned baby, a

disappeared baby or the baby thrown into the trash

2. We are aware of the stories and we question what kind of people can do these things to a child - we each feel heartbreak

for those children, babies

3. God, in His word says to Israel - "you were like a baby thrown into the trash but I loved you, sought you and re-claimed you

4. This is exactly what God wants to do for each of us - pick us from the trash bin, clean us up and bless us

I. V. 1-5 Doomed to a pitiful existence on this earth

A. V. 4a We Were Unclean - TO UNDERSTAND THE PASSAGE YOU NEED DETAILS OF JEWISH LIFE IN THOSE DAYS

1. As a newborn you were washed and spanked : maybe that’s why you start off mad at the world

2. Jewish custom was to be washed, not just cleaned but washed ceremonially thus acceptable to society and God

3. what does this have to do with you - There is none good, no not one (holy) - I joked when I said we were born mad at the

world but there is a grain of truth - you see we were born with a nature to sin

B. V. 4b-5 We Were Uncared For

1. What God is saying to the people of Israel is they had no father and no mother - all the things the parents do for a child were

not done because there was no one to do them

2. You and I were born without a Father, without God in OUR LIVES - Yes, He had everything to do with us being born BUT

WE DID NOT KNOW HIM

3. He said to the prophet "I knew you before you were born" but WE did not know him - WE came into the world knowing the

world

C. V. 4 We Were Unclothed

1. Immediately the baby was salted to prevent infection and wrapped in tight cloths (swaddling)

2. Scholars say this passage alludes to the vulnerability of sin (infection) and no clothes (to protect from infection)

3. Implication for each of us was that we were born into a sin infested world and no one was there to protect us

D. V. 5b We Were Unclaimed

1. Nowadays - the father is in the room along with whatever relatives how up - I was glad I didn’t have to do that! pacing the

waiting room floor was fine

2. Jewish custom was the woman went to bed alone, maybe a mid-wife - the father would receive word of the birth and come in

to claim the child

3. God is saying to Israel that they were born and no FATHER came in to claim the child

4. The same is true for each of us - God was not our father - not until we are born again!

E. All of these things are true about you without Jesus as your Savior. You are in a wretched shape this morning and you

need to be claimed by GOD - plucked from the trash bin of sin

II. V. 6-8 God loves you - He has always loved you - back to v 3 - not A NATION but a mix of people - Joseph - famine

A. These are the things God did for Israel - You that were no people are my people

1. This day I have begotten a people - He claimed them, blessed them and led them out of Egyptian bondage

2. There was a young woman Faye and I brought into our home - we did everything we could to make her a part of our lives -

she was grateful at first then rebelled - eventually she ran off with a man - a bad man who destroyed her future

3. God is saying to Israel - I loved you, I made a promise to you and you to me but you ran off after other gods

4. Maybe you have done the same thing - God claimed you but your ran off - I it time to be re-claimed, to come back to Him?

1. According to the psychologists, psychiatrists and the like - each of us hunger to be loved - God offers that love

2. He offered it to Israel and He offers it to you