Title: Jeremiah's Creator
Bible Book: Jeremiah 10 : 10-16
Author: Johnny L. Sanders
Subject: Creator, America's
Objective:
INTRODUCTION
There are many very obvious parallels between Jeremiah’s Judah and modern day America. In fact, the comparisons are so striking that I have entitled this series, Jeremiah’s America. Jeremiah’s Judah had rejected the true God; they had embraced a god who was no god; they were guilty of perpetual backsliding; they were guilty of gross immorality; they violated the Sabbath; they profaned God’s name; and they resisted His every attempt to reach out to them. They were guilty of another sin that has had a devastating effect on America. They refused to acknowledge God as Creator. I cannot think of a more vociferous, blatant, arrogant attitude than that which stands in the presence of Almighty God and says, “There is no way God created this world the way it says He did it in Genesis.”
In other words, all those so-called Christian evolutionists, those theistic evolutionists have compromised with the prince of this world. Let me stress right here what scientists know: you can either have special creation, or you have evolution. Why do you think so many brilliant scientists fight creation so vehemently? It is because they know that you cannot have it both ways. When people are taught evolution from the cradle to the grave, when evolution is taught by their parents, teachers, and even their church, it is not easy to persuade them to totally accept what God says in Genesis.
As I begin this message I would like to ask you to do two things: two very simple things, and you will do neither through your intellect alone. I realize I am asking a lot, but I challenge you to try it. First, spell God with a capital “G”. Francis Shaeffer said the most meaningless word in the English language is the word God spelled with a small “g”. Here is the challenge: if you do not believe what God proclaims in Genesis, spell your god with a small “g”. If your god is too small, or too weak to do what the Bible says He did, you are worshiping the wrong God.
Second, I would like to challenge you to look to the Bible as the divinely inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. It is the perfect Word of the perfect God. If He could not give us His perfect Word, why call Him God - why spell His name with s capital “G”? If He could have done it, but refused to do it, what kind of God is He? If you cannot trust what God says in Genesis, how can you trust what He says in John or Revelation?
My purpose today is not so much to try to present evidence for special creation as it is to try to demonstrate what the rejection of God as Creator can do, and will do to a society. Genesis is the foundation book upon which all the rest of the Bible is built. If you do not have a Creator at the beginning, how can you have a Judge at the end; and why would you need a Savior in the middle?
If you don’t have Genesis One, John One is a fairy tale. If you don’t have Genesis Three, John Three is meaningless.
First, I would like for us to consider what the Bible as a whole has to say about creation, and the Creator. Then, I would like for us to look specifically at what Jeremiah was inspired to write about the Creator. And finally, I would like for us to see where America stands today. I think we are paying a horrible price for rejecting God as the Intelligent Designer of all that exists.
I. THE BIBLE REVEALS GOD TO BE THE CREATOR OF ALL THAT EXISTS.
A. The Genesis Account Introduces Us to the Creator and His Marvelous Works, Genesis One.
1. There is a Biblical basis for science of creation.
Years ago, someone gave me two books by Dr. Henry Morris, one was a commentary on Genesis, and the other was THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR MODERN SCIENCE. I had never seen anything like this book. In fact, I had never heard anything like it from any pastor, nor had I heard anything like it from any professor in college or seminary - we are talking about Christian schools. Henry Morris was a hydrologist who became convinced that the available evidence supports the Genesis account of creation far better than the theory of evolution. That set him squarely against what was being taught in classrooms across America, from K-12, from college to graduate school.
When I was a child I asked our Director of Missions, who had started our mission church about what our text books taught about the origin of life. He told me to study the material so that I could make a good grade, and then forget it. I should stay with the Bible. The only problem with that was that pastors, evangelists, and professors in Bible schools had compromised. They wanted to believe and teach the Bible, but they had been taught that “evolution had been proved.” They wanted to be faithful to God and His Word, but they didn’t want the academic community to laugh at them for teaching faith instead of science. Science had supplanted the Bible as the authority for almost everything. So what did pastors and Bible school professors do? The worked out a clever compromise which permitted them to pay lip service to the Genesis account of creation while embracing the basic aspects of evolution.
They adopted the Day/Age Theory - each of the six days of creation represents millions, even billions of years. Many subscribed to the Gap Theory. God created the material things of the universe and then backed away and let it all evolve - just like the “scientists” claim. How else can you account for the evolution of one species to another? Never mind the fact that Paleontologists have searched for generations for the so-called missing link without finding even one transitional fossil. Pastors and professors would say, whatever you may say about evolution, “we know that God was the One who got it all started. So what if we evolved from a mass of protoplasm? Where did the protoplasm come from,” they reasoned.
I had been studying creation for some time when I met Andy and Jan Mercer. I discovered that Dr. Jan Mercer was a creation scientist who knew Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Creation Science, His son, John Morris (current president), Dwayne Gish, Gary Parker, Ken Ham, and other creation scientists. When I became a member of the board of trustees for LifeWay Christian Resources, I had many opportunities to talk with Dr. Jimmy Draper, who had been pastor of First Baptist Church, Euless, Texas before becoming president of LifeWay. Andy Mercer is a deacon in that church. When Dr. Draper has written on the subject of creation he has sent material to Jan to be sure he had his facts straight. LifeWay has published books dealing with creation, and from time to time various authors, like Dr. Steve Austin, publish books that show how the evidence supports creation rather than evolution. I spent a lot of time dealing with some of this When I was preparing a two volume commentary on Genesis 1-12, specifically in Volume I, which deals with the first three chapters of Genesis. A growing number of scientists are joining the special creation community. The Intelligent Design movement (ID) is finding acceptance among those who are trying to have creation taught along with evolution in public schools.
2. The Bible begins with God.
It is interesting that God does not begin His Holy Word by presenting evidence for His existence. He declares Himself with the words, “In the beginning God...” The word used for God here, Elohim, is the generic word for God in the Old Testament. It is translated God, whereas the word Adonai is translated Lord, and the word Yahweh is translated LORD (all caps). The word Elohim testifies not only to His existence, but also to the fact that He has the power to create all things and to maintain them. The word Adonai affirms His sovereignty - He has the sovereign right to reign over all He created. The word Yahweh (Jehovah) is the special covenant name for God.
God knew exactly how to begin His inspired, infallible, inerrant revelation of Himself to the one creation created in His image: “In the beginning God.” Without that nothing else matters, for nothing would exist - unless you are naive enough to believe that it all happened by some kind of controlled accident.
3. God created the heavens and the earth.
The word translated “created” means to bring something into existence. Language is interesting in that it is not only a gift from God to allow us to communicate with Him and with each other, it is - unlike the physical universe - evolving. Today people speak of written projects, building plans, paintings, sculpture, and songs as one’s creation. A new dress or shirt is the creation of such and such designer. A painting is the creation of an artist; a concert is the creation of a composer. The word God uses in Genesis One is a special word, meaning to bring something into existence from nothing.
God created a mature universe. Adam and Eve were created as mature adults. This also answers the old question of which came first, the chicken of the egg. The chicken came first, because all animals were created fully developed. Not only were Adam and Eve created as mature human beings, I believe the universe was created as a full grown universe. Those who subscribe to the Gap theory need several billions of years to allow for the light to reach earth from some remote star or planet. You have no problem with that if you accept the fact that God created a complete and mature universe. If he could create a light source, like a star of sun, He could create the light rays. After all, He said, “let there be light and there was light.”
4. God was well pleased with all He created.
At the end of each day of creation, God looked at what He had created and pronounced it “Good.” He created the universe. He created the sun, moon, and stars. He separated the light from darkness, the land from the sea, and then the stage was set for the creation of all He wanted in His designer universe. God created the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the animals that walk on earth, and then He created man in His own image and told him to multiply and fill the earth - and subdue it.
5. Genesis reveals intelligent design.
You are familiar with the watch illustration. You are walking down the road and you see a shiny object. You pick it up and take it home with you and even though you have never seen anything like it before, you observe if for some time. You observe the hands for days. You keep watching it - and I suppose it is because spend so much time watching it that you decide to call it a watch! Would you not agree that any rational person who observes a watch will conclude that somewhere there must be a watch maker? How can we look at the universe without seeing that there is a design behind it? If there is a design, there must be a Designer. There is! “In the beginning, God created.”
B. Creation Is a Major Theme of the Bible.
1. Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible, assumes a Creator.
“Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me , if you have understanding. (5) Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? (6) What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone (7) while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (8) Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb, (9) when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, (10) when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, (11) when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?
(16) Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans? (17) Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of death’s shadow? (18) Have you comprehended the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
(31) Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? (32) Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs? (Job 38:4-32).
2. The Book of Psalms glorifies the Creator.
David was inspired to glorify the Creator in that great 24th Psalm:
“(1) The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord; (2) for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers. (3) Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? (4) The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. (5) He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Ps. 24:1-5).
3. The prophets acknowledged the Creator.
Jeremiah, wrote, “He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His understanding” Jer. 10:12).
4. The Gospels affirm the Creator (John 1:1ff).
In the Prologue to the Gospel According to John, we learn that Jesus was the Agent of Creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created” (John 1:1-3).
5. Paul proclaimed special creation in his sermon on Mars Hill.
Standing on Mars Hill, the great missionary Apostle proclaimed the Gospel to pagan philosophers:
“The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. (25) Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. (26) From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, (27) so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:24-27).
The charge has been made that Paul let his ego get the best of him as he stood before all those philosophers in Athens. They argue that in other recorded sermons, he began with Abraham and then reviewed the covenant God had made with His Chosen People. He used the Scripture to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. However, as he stood before the orators, scholars, and philosophers on Mars Hill, he forgot about the Scripture and tried to convince them through logic and the wisdom of the world.
Let me state as strongly as I possibly can that this is not what happened. I repeat, this did not happen! In all those other recorded sermons, Paul was preaching and teaching in Jewish synagogues where they knew the Scripture. They would follow him from the Abrahamic Covenant, through the David Covenant, and the prophecy of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. He would then seek to prove that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant, the long awaited Messiah. This approach would mean nothing to his pagan audience. So, what do you do when people know nothing of the Bible? Begin with creation and then proclaim Jesus. The sermon that day on Mars Hill was not a wasted effort. Some were saved, and we have a record of an incredible sermon which we can read and apply in our daily life.
C. Now, Consider What Evolutionists Do not Tell Us.
1) They do not tell us that they know evolution is only a theory. There is no way you can prove either creation or evolution through laboratory tests. Creation cannot be repeated and analyzed.
2) They do not tell you that the First and Second Laws of Thermo-dynamics disproves evolution.
The First Law of Thermo-dynamics says has to do with the preservation of elements. All God created is still here in one form or another. That Second Law of Thermo-dynamics says that there is a continual breakdown in the order of things. Buy a new car and park it in your back yard for fifteen years. Does it increase in value or decrease in value? Why? What happens to metal when left unprotected? It rusts.
3) They do not tell you that in the Grand Canyon, there are old layers sitting comfortably on top of young layers.
4) They do not tell you that Dr. Stephen Austin, one of the leading creation scientists in the world used to be an atheist. They do not tell you that he has made a detailed study of Spirit Lake, the lake directly in the path of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, may very well be a tiny model of what happened following the Flood. Austin, a geologist, believes he may be witnessing the answer to why in petrified forests, you have many trees petrified without roots or stumps. Of the thousands of tree floating in Spirit Lake, some sink, the heavy end goes down and they float vertically, not horizontally. In time they sink to the bottom and the silt fills in around them. He wonders, if it is possible that this is what happened after the flood. He has also discovered that a number of layers of dirt, trash, rock, and debris were laid down in twenty-four hours after the eruption of Mount St. Helens. Is he right? I don’t know. That is way over my head! At the same time, I am willing to look at the evidence.
5) They do not tell you how Satan can use evolution in his relentless war against God. And believe me, he is not battling some god you can spell with a small “g’. I hope you will not think I am being too “religious” here. This has a practical application today. I saw a report that says that in Europe, they will no longer spell God with a capital “G”. They are afraid of Muslims who still spell Allah with a capital “A”!
In Revelation 13 we see a huge illustration of a method Satan has used throughout the ages. Why would he give it up when it works so well for him. The first beast is monstrous, cruel, and seemingly irresistible. The second beast seems as gentle as a lamb. The first beastly claim Satan uses is an open challenge to God: “There is no God.” Or, “God is dead.” People are shocked, they know better, but how can the stand up to this beast? That is when Satan sends our his second beastly argument: “Of course there is a god. In fact, there may be many gods. If I am happy with my god and you are happy with your god, we should be happy for each other.” Why does he do that? He has learned that if he offers a compromise position many people will jump on board.
Satan marches out is first beast to say if there is not God, He did not create the world - world must have evolved without a god! Most people resist that position, so he marches out his little lamb to proclaim (often from the pulpit), “Of course God created everything. He created it and then backed off and let it evolve from there.” The Day/Age theory is a compromise. The Gap theory is a compromise. In Revelation 13, the second beast at first appears like a lamb, a counterfeit Lamb, but when he speaks, his message is straight from the pits of hell. Do not be deceived by a false lamb. How do I avoid being deceived? Read God’s Word and trust the Holy Spirit - after all He was there!
II. JEREMIAH HAS WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE ABOUT THE CREATOR, 10:10-16.
A. The Lord Identifies Himself to His People, 10:10.
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His rage.”
1. He is the true God - in contrast to the false gods they had followed.
2. He is the living God - in contrast to the lifeless idols they served.
3. He is the eternal King - The God with power to create is sovereign over all He created.
4. The earth quakes at His wrath - it has and it will again.
5. The nations cannot endure His rage - in the past of the future (see Revelation).
B. The Creator Tells Jeremiah What to Say to His People, 10:11-15.
“You (Jeremiah) are to say this to them (Judah): The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens. (12) He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His understanding. (13) When He thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses. (14) Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [his] carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them. (15) They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed” (HCSB).
1. “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish” (v. 11)
2. The Creator created all that was created (v. 12).
a. “He made the earth by His power.”
b. “He established the world by His wisdom.”
c. “He spread out the heavens by His understanding .”
3. He sustains and maintains what He created (v. 13).
Listen to what God tells Jeremiah to tell them (and us): “When He thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.”
Do you know what He is saying? He is in control of the water cycle. He controls all the water on the earth. He controls all the systems by which the rain falls where He had determined that it will fall. He controls the wind currents, the water currents in the ocean, and the evaporation that provides the clouds with rain, and He brings His wind out of His storehouse to move the clouds where they should go so that the rain will fall where it is needed. What He is telling us is that all systems are under His control. He created the elements, He planned the systems, and He energizes them to accomplish His purpose.
4. Those who worship false gods are “stupid and ignorant” (v. 14).
Please don’t blame me for this. God said it! Listen again: “Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [his] carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.” Some will be offended by these words, but let me assure you of this one thing: every person who goes to hell because he rejected the true God for a god that does not even exist will acknowledge his stupidity for ever in hell. It is far better to face it and reject that lie than to acknowledge it after it is too late to do anything about it. Paul has a word for those who look at the handy work of our Creator and they rejects him for some form of idolatry: “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
5. False gods are totally worthless (v. 15).
These are God’s words to us though Jeremiah, His spokesman: “They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.” There are many false religions in the world today. Islam is but the most dangerous and the most aggressive. God declares their ultimate end. This is not the “Thus concludeth the mind of Johnny Sanders,” or the “Thus declareth the tongue of Jeremiah.” These are the words of the One Who Created all things. He is the One Who knows. We had better pay close attention to Him.
C. God’s People Should not Be Like the People of the World, 10:16.
“Jacob’s Portion is not like these because He is the One who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of Hosts is His name.”
God’s chosen people should not be like the pagan people who worship false gods and give them credit for what He has created. Today, many still give false gods credit for their blessings. All you have to do is listen to the cries of the Muslims, Hindus, and all the other false religions. The New Age Movements highlighted and amplified the shamanism, or witchcraft of the Native Americans, who worship the sun, moon, and stars - or the gods of the streams and mountains. Humanism has tried, through its gospel of evolution to convince the world that there is no god, that everything got here through random chance.
III. AMERICA HAS DENIED THE CREATOR.
A. Early America Believed in the Creator.
Francis Shaeffer claimed that England entered the post-Christians period in their history in 1895. He also declared that America entered the post-Christian era in her history in 1935. If he is right, what do you believe might have been a contributing factor? Charles Darwin and his disciples captured Great Briton with a theory designed in the pits of hell. I say that because the Satan hates God and the world hates and all who are created in His image. If Shaeffer was right about America, what happened just ten years before she entered the post-Christian era? The famous (or infamous) Scopes Trial gave the media and liberal educators just the vehicle they needed to take our children for a ride down a one-way street, toward Humanism or Secularism, with all its bitter fruit (homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, and immorality).
Evolution gives fallen man an explanation or origins that appeals to the worldly mind and heart. Evolution is not just a benign theory, it is a hellish gospel created by the prince of this world, designed to appeal to the worldly. It is a challenge to the sovereignty of God.
B. A Humanistic America rejects God as Creator.
To acknowledge special creation demands that there be a Creator. If there is an intelligent design, there must be an Intelligent Designer. Evolution require no Creator. I have read a lot of books on the Creation/evolution debate, and I am convinced that you must choose either creation or evolution. The two theories are totally incompatible. They are mutually exclusive. Sadly, there are many church members who have been so thoroughly indoctrinated in the theory of evolution that they feel they must either reject special creation, or come up with a compromise theory, like the Day/Age theory or the Gap theory.
C. Consider the Price America Is Paying for Rejecting God as Creator.
Within one generation of the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, evolution was the gospel proclaimed in classrooms, from elementary school through the university. When America embraced evolution, it reject special creation and denied the Creator. What have been the results? In 1948, a Supreme Court decision mentioned a “wall of separation between church and state. Within two decades America was so deceived as to believe that those words were in the constitution. In 1962 and 1963, the Supreme Court took prayer and Bible reading out of public schools.
Driven by what must be an intense hatred for Jesus Christ, the ACLU, Americans for the Separation of Church, and State, and other such groups, were attacking passive displays of the Ten Commandment, the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and nativity scenes on public property. If you chart the behavior of Americans beginning in 1962 and 1962 until the present, you will see that the line on any chart begins to climb and continue to rise on the chart. Rejection of God as Creator and an emphasis on random chance has yielded a horrible harvest: Moral relativism, immorality, abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia.
D. If We Want to See Revival in America, We Must Acknowledge Our Creator.
Rejection of God as the Creator compromises the Word of God, the will of God, and the plan of God. If there is no Creator, you need no Savior and you fear no Judge. There are a lot of people who could not care less about a spiritual awakening, and they will never be concerned about revival until they come to know the Creator as Savior and Lord. We must choose between Satan’s beastly gospen of evolution and the One who reveals Himself as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.
CONCLUSION
Job, David, Jeremiah, and Paul believed in creation. They believed in a Creator. They believed that we have a Creator in the beginning, and at the end a Judge. In between, they wrote about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin, tempted like as we but without sin, condemned, tortured, crucified, buried, risen, ascended to the Father where He is making intercession for our sins. He is coming again, and it could be today. What if it is today? Are you ready? You can be. John presents it like this:
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not judged, but anyone who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God” (John 3:16-18 ).
