Jeremiah 10
When men lose the consciousness of God, they do not lose their sense of need, and thus substitute the false for true, leading to idolatry and a sense of emptiness.
Chuck Smith discusses Jeremiah 10, emphasizing that when people lose their awareness of God, they still feel a need for something greater and often create false idols to fill that void. He contrasts the lifelessness of idols, made from dead trees and fashioned by human hands, with the living God who is powerful and wise. Smith highlights that these substitutes for God are ultimately foolish and incapable of providing true fulfillment, as they require humans to carry them rather than the other way around. He warns that even today, people continue to create their own gods, whether it be money or sensations, failing to recognize the true God who sustains them. The sermon calls for a return to recognizing and worshiping the living God rather than the empty substitutes we often create.
Text
Intro: Place in history for Chapter 10, 11, 12.
I. WHEN MEN LOSE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD, THEY DO NOT LOSE THEIR SENSE OF NEED.
A. They thus substitute the false for true.
B. The making of an idol follows the loss of consciousness of God.
1. Does not precede or cause loss of awareness.
C. Disloyalty does not eliminate need for God.
1. ResuIt - man makes his own God.
2. So in case of Judah.
D. Man must create a god of some kind if they have lost the God who created them.
II. CONTRAST BETWEEN FALSE AND TRUE GOD.
A. Origin.
1. A tree, killed - a dead tree.
2. Tree fashioned by hands into some form.
3. A dead tree decked with silver and gold.
4. A dead tree fastened with hammer and nails.
Imaginatively watch the people make it.
What are they forming?
Why are they doing it?
1. Cry within heart of every man.
2. Today scene changed only slightly.
Contrast with God - vs. 6, 7, 12.
1. All things appertain to God.
B. Nature of the substitutes for God.
1. Brutish and foolish.
2. Stock doctrine of vanities.
3. There is no breath in them.
Contrasted with true God - vs. 10.
1. True God.
2. Living God.
3. Everlasting King.
4. Powerful, wise, discrete - vs. 12
An idol is altogether false - a tree becomes a God in the
proportion that may hide the fact that it is a tree.
C. Worth of the false Gods.
1. Power - vs. 5.
a. "They speak not."
b. "They must need be borne."
2. Intelligence.
a. The instruction of idols, is but a stock (it is wooden).
3. Their influence.
a. Vain - they are a work of delusion (mockery).
Contrast true God.
1. God is great.
2. God is living - His voice is heard.
Men make gods they must carry.
When God makes man, He carries him.
Some have made idolatry of religion because they have to carry it.
True religion carries you.
Ill. MAN TODAY STILL CREATING SUBSTITUTES FOR GOD.
A. A God is that which you worship.
1. After Israel's fall to Babylon - "They worshipped Jehovah and served their
own gods."
2. Some worship money.
3. Some worship sensation. The inability of our own gods to save.
Sermon Outline
- I. WHEN MEN LOSE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD, THEY DO NOT LOSE THEIR SENSE OF NEED
- A. They thus substitute the false for true.
- B. The making of an idol follows the loss of consciousness of God.
- C. Disloyalty does not eliminate need for God.
- D. Man must create a god of some kind if they have lost the God who created them.
- II. CONTRAST BETWEEN FALSE AND TRUE GOD
- A. Origin.
- 1. A tree, killed - a dead tree.
- 2. Tree fashioned by hands into some form.
- 3. A dead tree decked with silver and gold.
- 4. A dead tree fastened with hammer and nails.
- B. Nature of the substitutes for God.
- 1. Brutish and foolish.
- 2. Stock doctrine of vanities.
- 3. There is no breath in them.
- C. Worth of the false Gods.
- 1. Power - vs. 5.
- a. 'They speak not.'
- b. 'They must need be borne.'
- 2. Intelligence.
- a. The instruction of idols, is but a stock (it is wooden).
- 3. Their influence.
- a. Vain - they are a work of delusion (mockery).
- III. MAN TODAY STILL CREATING SUBSTITUTES FOR GOD
- A. A God is that which you worship.
- 1. After Israel's fall to Babylon - 'They worshipped Jehovah and served their own gods.'
- 2. Some worship money.
- 3. Some worship sensation.
Key Quotes
“''They thus substitute the false for true.''” — Chuck Smith
“''Men make gods they must carry. When God makes man, He carries him. Some have made idolatry of religion because they have to carry it. True religion carries you.''” — Chuck Smith
Application Points
- We must be aware of our need for God and not substitute false gods for Him.
- True religion carries us, it does not have to be carried.
- Idolatry can take many forms, including worshiping money or sensation.