The Payoff Is What Exactly?
Jeremiah 2: 4-13
Pastor Carl Toti
June 11-12, 2022
Main Idea: Learning how to make more profitable life exchanges by moving from self-sabotage to self-knowledge.
Jeremiah 2:4–13 (NLT) 4 Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! 5 This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness— a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels?’ 7 “And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the possession I had promised you. 8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who taught my word ignored me, the rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal, wasting their time on worthless idols. 9 Therefore, I will bring my case against you,” says the LORD. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come. 10 “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this? 11 Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! 12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the LORD. 13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! “… my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit” (v. 11) “my people … have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water” (v. 13)
Romans 1:23–25 (NLT) 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
1 John 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols
"The true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention. What do you enjoy daydreaming about? What do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart? How do you spend your money? Our money flows most effortlessly toward your heart’s greatest love." —Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller
“Has something or someone besides Jesus Christ taken title to your heart’s functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear, and delight? To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security, and acceptance?” —David Powlison, The Journal of Biblical Counseling Idolatry is Harlotry The Cistern of Worth-Ship
Jeremiah 2:5 (NLT) 5 This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.
1 Samuel 12:21 (BSB) Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. Isaiah 41:24 (NIV) But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.