Turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 10. 

Jeremiah 10:23-24  O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.  24 O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

        When We Reject God And His Glory There Are Consequences

What is the background to Jeremiah 10? God’s Judah had rejected the God Who saved them. In fact, Israel began to walk away from God during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. After the 41 year old Rehoboam took the throne, the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel asked him to lower their tax burden. 

Rehoboam glorified himself, not God. 
His pride caused civil war in Israel.

The Ten Northern Tribes (also called Ephraim) established their own capital city (Samaria) and their own King (Jeroboam). 

Why did this happen? To understand it, you need to go back to Solomon’s reign. Solomon started out as a good King, but in 1 Kings 11:1-13 Solomon disobeyed God by intermarrying with women that did not know God. After Solomon married these women he began to build shrines to the Moabite and Ammonite gods. Solomon robbed God of His glory, and the Lord told him:

1 Kings 11:11-13  (NKJV) Because you have done this, {marrying many wives and worshiping false gods to please these wives} and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.

Because His people would not glorify God (see 1 Kings 12:16), God was the One Who ultimately tore the kingdom in two. This is the mystery of free will and the Sovereign will of God. Man PROPOSES, but God DISPOSES. God foretold Rehoboam’s failure, but Rehoboam is still responsible for what he did.

When we sin, and make ourselves god rather than God be God, we hurt not just ourselves, but others.

The Ten Tribes under King Jeroboam were led to worship golden calves (1 Kings 12:2-33). This is not a new sin within Israel. When Moses went up Sinai to receive the Law from God, Aaron built a golden calf (Exodus 32:5) for the people to worship. Israel learned golden calf worship from Egypt. The Northern Kingdom will begin to fall under an Assyrian attack beginning in 740 BC (see 1 Chronicles 5:26), and would be utterly exiled by 722 BC (see 2 Kings 17:5-6). 

Judah and Benjamin have not yet fallen to Babylon & King Nebuchadnezzar (586 BC, 2 Kings 25:9-12). God wants S Israel (Judah) to know that ...

        The WAY OF MAN Is Not In Himself

Jeremiah 10:23  O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself:

As God reveals the destruction of Judah to Jeremiah, the Prophet is comforted in knowing that God is always in control. You may not believe this. There are many who profess to be Christian who think that God is so small that man controls His ways. Several years ago J.B. Phillips wrote a book called “Your God is Too Small”. In that book, Phillips stated:

“Many men and women today are living, often with inner DISsatisfaction, without any faith in God at all. This is because they have not found with their adult minds a God Who is BIG ENOUGH …”

Some have traded God from the “Golden Calf” called “Evolution”. My Bible says that God created the world, and our entire universe, in six 24 hour days. The “Golden Calf” of Evolution Evolution was first developed and presented to the world through a failed Anglican Minister Charles Darwin. Darwin wrote:

“In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist … (but) an agnostic”

The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth …” (Genesis 1:1). God created a MATURE universe. Adam and Eve were created as mature, sexually reproductive creatures. “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” is easily answered in the Book of Genesis. The CHICKEN came first, for 

Genesis 2:19 … out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

God made a MATURE creation that had the ability to reproduce. The Golden Calf of Evolution says all things are a happy accident.

God asks the skeptic and the scientist:

Job 38:4-5  (ESV) Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

There is no Gospel if there is no Genesis. 
If there is no Genesis 1, there is no John 1.
No Genesis 3, there is no Romans 3 thru 5.
If Adam and Eve are myths, so is Jesus!

The heart of the Gospel is:

Romans 5:12 … by ONE MAN sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned …

This is what Jeremiah is saying:

Jeremiah 10:23 … O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself

We are hopelessly and helplessly lost. We are broken, and cannot fix what ails us. We need Jesus!

Romans 5:6 … when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8-15  God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners {because of AdaM’S SIN}, Christ died for us.  9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.  12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:  … 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

You cannot cherry pick which parts of the Scripture you believe in.  The Apostle Paul  preached the Gospel to those who worshiped many gods at Mars Hill:

Acts 17:24, 26  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;  … 26 And hath made of one blood {has from one person, Adam} all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth 27  That they should seek the Lord…

        Jeremiah serve a BIG GOD Who made ALL THINGS.

Jeremiah 10:23  O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 

Word Study: Jeremiah says “I know”, the Qal Perfect of the Hebrew yāḏaʿ means “I rest in this knowledge”. What is Jeremiah resting in? That “the way of man is not in himself”. Our God is an awesome God. He is no figment of the imagination. Man created Evolution out of a failed faith in God. This is where all idols come from. 

        The Golden Calves Of The Lost Cannot Save Us

Jeremiah 10:2-5  Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.  3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.  4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.  5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Word Study: “The way of the heathen” is the Hebrew dereḵ gôy which means “the path of the unbeliever”. 

The unbeliever DESIGNS a god that has no power. The Christian follows the God Who DESIGNED all things.

Word Study: they go out of their way to create false gods. The Lord says, “the customs of the people are VAIN”. The word “VAIN” is the Hebrew heḇel, which means “like a vapour, a fog, or a breath, a thing that has no substance, that is empty and transitory but without power”. The gods of the lost are manufactured by humans. God says,

one cutteth a tree out of the forest

The unbeliever KILLS A TREE to make a fake god. The Christian follows the God Who designed the trees, and Who died on a tree for us. 

deck it with silver and with gold

The unbeliever rips rocks from the ground to make a god. The Christian follows the God Who is THE ROCK (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15). 

they fasten it with nails and with hammers, 
that it move not

The false gods of the unbeliever will tip over if not nailed to the floor. But we who believe in Jesus say, “There is none HOLY AS THE LORD: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any Rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2). You can stand on Jesus! False gods are dead gods. They ...

cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good

The false gods of this world may look beautiful, but they are just made up. Different workmen and merchants work together to create these figments of imagination. 

Jeremiah 10:9-12   Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.  10 But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.  12 He hath made) the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

The God of the Scripture is “the TRUE God” as opposed to the false gods of the world. 

The True God is revealed through the witness of nature
& the Holy Bible!

John 17:14-17   {O Father} I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

The Word of God, the Holy Bible, is true in all it affirms. The idols of this world are false, but God’s Word is true. The God of Scripture is also “The LIVING God”. He is the Source of all life. Jesus said:

Mark 12:26-27  … as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  27  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living ...

God is the Source of all life. He is the “God of the living”. But notice that God is also “an EVERLASTING King”. God is in control of all things. God made the earth:

Jeremiah 10:12  He hath made (ʿāśâ, to make something out of nothing )
the earth by his power

Our God is not a manufactured God, but the God Who made all things from nothing. Our God ...

Jeremiah 10:12  established (Hiphil Participle kûn, has firmly fixed) the world by his wisdom

and “stretched out the heavens at His discretion”. The Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Maker of mankind through Adam, is the One Who promises life to those who come to Him. 

        I Can’t Even Walk Without Him Holding My Hand

If your god is a little “g” god, then the slightest of terrors can easily overthrow you. But if your God is the Big “G” God of Scripture, you need not fear what tomorrow might hold. As Jeremiah was told by God of the impending destruction to come by Nebuchadnezzar, he said:

Jeremiah 10:23   O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

When you give yourselves over to the God of the Scripture, knowing that you have no power in and of yourself, then you can walk without fear. It is HIS promise:

Isaiah 54:17   No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

Those who “serve the LORD” know that God will protect us and oversee any trial that comes our way. God gives us righteousness through His precious Son Jesus Christ. We are His Children:

Galatians 3:26  … ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
We do not walk in the WAY OF MAN, 

but as Christians we walk in the WAY of CHRIST. 

Jesus said in John 14:6 …  I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

We who …

Galatians 5:24-25  they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We do not walk after the ways of this world. We walk with our Savior, our God. We have His promise:

1 Peter 3:13-15 … And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?  14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;  15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:

As judgment came to Judah, Jeremiah “sanctified the Lord God in his heart”. He focused upon the God of Scripture, and believed that God is greater than anything in His creation. If you have a little “g” god then you have much to fear. But if your God is the Creator of all things, and the everlasting King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then you have His promise:

Romans 8:28-39  … we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.  34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

We cannot control our circumstances. We cannot control the people around us. We cannot control our own health. We cannot control whether we live or die. Sometimes we make bad decisions. But above all things if you have given yourself to God through His Son Jesus, then the God Who is and Who cannot cease to be, this God, Jesus’ God, is OUR Father. Hear the Lord’s Word:

Psalm 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. 

Psalm 112:6-7  …  the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.  7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

If you are following the golden calves of this world, I beg you – turn to Jesus this day. Your hope and your strength is in Him. Do not delay – today is the day of salvation. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to His side while there is time. Amen and amen!