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Good evening. If you'll turn 
with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 5. That's 1 Samuel, chapter 
5. This evening we're going to look 
at all the verses in chapter 5. We'll begin reading in verse 
1, and we'll read all the way to chapter 6, verse 1. 1 Samuel chapter 5 beginning at 
verse 1. Then the Philistines took the 
ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. And when 
the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into 
the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people 
of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen 
on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they 
took Dagon and set it in its place again. And when they rose 
early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face 
to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon 
and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. 
Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Therefore, neither the priests 
of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold 
of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. But the hand of the Lord was 
heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck 
them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the 
men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The ark of the God 
of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward 
us and dang on our God. Therefore they sent and gathered 
to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, What 
shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, 
Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. So they 
carried the ark of the God of Israel away. And so it was, after 
they carried it away, that the hand of the Lord was against 
the city with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the 
city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. Therefore, 
they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. And so it was, as the Ark of 
God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have 
brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and 
our people. So they sent and gathered all 
the lords of the Philistines and said, Send away the Ark of 
the God of Israel. Let it go back to its own place, 
so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly 
destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very 
heavy there. And the men who did not die were 
stricken with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. 
Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines 
seven months." Well, let us pray. O great God and God Almighty, 
You are the Lord of heaven and earth, and You are the great 
and awesome God, not unto us, O Lord, but unto You. You deserve 
worship. You deserve glory. You deserve 
honor, O God, for You are the all-powerful One. And we thank 
You that we see great acts of Your power even in this passage 
here. We must confess, O God, that we do struggle with the 
great issue of idolatry. We do still have remnants of 
that disease, O God. We still have that remaining 
corruption for those that have faith in Jesus Christ. But we 
do thank you and praise you, O God, for Christ, who was not 
idolatrous, who lived the law in perfection, and was that perfect 
sacrifice for us, O God. We pray that you'd help us kill 
the idols that are within, the idols that we conjure up in our 
hearts, the ones that we make with our hands and with our hearts, 
O God. forgive us for our sins, wash us and cleanse us in the 
blood of Christ. And for those that do not know 
Christ, who maybe aren't aware of the disease of idolatry, O 
God, may you expose them, may you give them this diagnosis 
that they have this disease and they are in need of the only 
antidote in Christ our King. May they look to Him. May they 
call upon Him. May they believe on Him and find 
everlasting life. May they find everlasting hope 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the all-powerful One. He is 
that rider in white who's ready to make war and judgment. We 
thank you for Him, O God. We thank you that He is our King, 
that He protects us and strengthens us, for we are weak. We need 
Him, O God. And we pray, O God, that you 
would help us and show us a sense of your power through the preaching. 
May your Holy Spirit be with us today. May you bless the preaching. 
May the Holy Spirit accompany the word, that those who know 
Christ might be edified, and those who do not know Christ 
might come to saving knowledge. But may we all confess what a 
great God you are through the preaching. We thank you for your 
mercies. We thank you for your grace, 
O God. We pray that you would be glorified in all things in 
the name of Christ. Amen. Well, there are certain 
places in Scripture where it's appropriate to laugh out loud. 
It's appropriate to give a little smirk. We've just read in 1 Kings 
18, the battle of the prophets of Baal, and Elijah says, where 
is your God? Perhaps He's relieving Himself. 
That's an appropriate place to laugh, an appropriate place to 
giggle. Or perhaps some of the kids of the Israelites would 
have said to their dad at night, Dad, can you tell us the story 
of Ehud and Eglon, the big giant man who was killed in the lavatory? And as the story's being read, 
they probably would have been giggling their faces off of how 
funny it is. And there are many other places 
like that in scripture. But, as Dale Ralph Davis says, 
there are certain places that these comedic sections teach 
us something that is deadly serious. So let me ask you this question. 
Which gods do you worship, and which god should you worship? 
And so you see, we're dealing with the issue of idolatry, and 
that's what this comedic section here teaches us. And what 1 Samuel 
shows us is that because Yahweh is the true and living God, then 
He is the one who must be worshipped. Because He is the only God, He 
is the only one who must be given honour that is due unto Him. 
Because there is foolishness in worshipping idols made by 
hands. There's foolishness in setting up idols alongside of 
God. like the Israelites do. So we 
must confess that Yahweh is the only God, the only one deserving 
of our worship. So as we think through 1 Samuel, 
we're going to do so under two considerations. First of all, 
the handless Dagon in chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. And secondly, 
the hand of Yahweh in verses 6 through 12. So the handless 
Dagon and the hand of Yahweh. Let's first look with me at the 
Handless Dagon. But we need some context. We 
must look back at 1 Samuel chapter 4. This is the Battle of Ebenezer. If you remember that story, the 
Israelites go out to battle against their arch-nemesis, the Philistines. 
And so they get routed in the first battle, and then they say, 
in verse 3, And when the people had come into the camp, the elders 
of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us today before the 
Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord 
from Shiloh to us, that it comes among us, that it may save us 
from the hand of our enemies. It. may save us. As Davis says, 
here was a pressure tactic, a way of twisting God's arm. That is 
not faith, but superstition. They're treating it as if cause 
and effect relationship with God. If the ark is there, surely 
we will win, because God will not forsake us. They're treating 
him like other gods, and that's one of the problems that will 
become evident in Israel. But nonetheless, they treat him 
like he's some other god who can just be manipulated, who 
can be held in their hands. And so, even when the ark comes 
out, what do the Philistines say in verse 7? So the Philistines 
were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp, and they 
said, woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before. Woe 
to us! Who will deliver us from the 
hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck 
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. So the Israelites 
are acting just like the Philistines. They're acting just like the 
pagans, and they're treating Yahweh like He's one God among 
many. And so what happens? The people are routed, and the 
glory of God, the ark is captured, and as 1 Samuel 4.22 says, the 
glory of God has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has 
been captured. And see, the psalmist comments 
on this for us in Psalm 78. Psalm 78, beginning at verse 
56. This is a psalm about God's kindness 
to a rebellious people, and he recounts this very episode. Verse 
56, Yet they tested God and provoked the Most High God. They did not 
keep His testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like 
their fathers. They were turned aside like a 
deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger 
with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved 
images. When God heard this, He was furious and greatly abhorred 
Israel. so that he forsook the tabernacle 
of Shiloh, the tent he had placed among men and delivered his strength 
into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hands. He also 
gave his people over to the sword and was furious with his inheritance. 
The fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not 
given in marriage. Their priests fell by the sword 
and their widows made no lamentation. But then the Lord awoke as from 
sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine, and he 
beat back his enemies and put them to perpetual reproach." 
And this probably refers to 1 Samuel chapter 5. And you see, in 1 
Samuel chapter 5, we see some great lessons in theology. Who 
is Dagon and who is Yahweh? Who is the God of heaven and 
earth? Which one is the supreme God? So, notice what happens 
in chapter 5, verse 1. You see, you have to think about 
what the Ark symbolizes. What does it mean? What is the 
significance of the Ark? Well, for Israel, it was the 
place, as Davis puts, where Yahweh ruled, where Yahweh revealed, 
and where Yahweh reconciled his people. It is the presence of 
Yahweh where there is meeting and atonement. We know this from 
Exodus chapter 25 verse 22. It was the place where God would 
meet with Moses and his people. That's the meeting aspect. We 
also see the atonement aspect with respect to Leviticus chapter 
16 and that day of atonement. So there's great significance. 
So it says when the glory of God departs, there's great significance 
tied to what the ark symbolizes, what it refers to. But what does 
it mean for the people, for the Philistines? Well, as one writer 
puts, it shows that Israel has been completely conquered. That 
is, it was a symbol, the Philistines think that their victory indicates 
that their god Dagon is superior to the God of Israel. And they 
bring the Ark into Dagon's temple to honor their god. So if they've 
conquered the people of Israel and they've taken their god, 
surely Dagon is stronger than the God of Israel. And if Dagon 
is stronger than the God of Israel, then surely he has taken the 
people, Dagon has conquered the people for the Philistines. It 
highlights for them that Yahweh is weak. In a lot of ways, in 
ancient Near Eastern warfare, this was a Philistine trophy 
case. When they defeated their enemies, they would bring their 
idols into their temples as a trophy room for their God. And the perception is that Yahweh 
is weak. The perception is Yahweh can't 
handle himself. And you know, This kind of reminds 
us of Christ, doesn't it? Christ, when he's on the cross, 
is perceived as weak. Christ, when he's nailed to the 
cross and suffering, is perceived as someone who cannot save himself, 
as many mocked. You know, some people thought 
that Christ would come and bring physical, a physical kingdom, 
bring national kingdom, bring back the national kingdom of 
Israel over against the Romans. They pictured Christ coming with 
giant swords and guns and breaking things. But what is Christ doing 
on the cross? You know, the irony when the 
criminals, when the centurions, when the Jews mock him and say, 
save yourself, the irony is he's saving the world. It's not always 
in the way we see it, but Christ Almighty is the one who conquered 
sin and death, the one who lived the law in perfection, the one 
who is that perfect King. Even though he's seen as weak, 
man, he is strong. And the same is true for the 
Philistines. They perceive Yahweh as weak. And man, are they going to get 
a rude awakening very, very soon. So they think Dagon is bigger 
than Yahweh, is stronger than Yahweh. You see, Dagon, for them, 
was the one who was the giver of life. He was the one they 
worshiped, hoping that he would provide rain for healthy crops. 
That's kind of like paganism, isn't it? We have a God that 
we can get things from. We create a God that hopefully 
he can give us things that we need. That's certainly the case 
with Dagon as well. One thing that I think adds insult 
to injury in this whole text is perhaps Dagon looked like 
a merman. There was the possibility that's what he resembled or that's 
what it refers to. It's not very formidable, is 
it? I feel like a merman is kind of a little feminine to me, and 
perhaps that offends you, but that's what I think of when I 
think of a merman. So hopefully that adds to the suspense of 
the story. So then as we go along, what's 
going to happen? We see this battle between these 
two deities, Yahweh versus Dagon. We see round one. Notice verse 
three. And when the people of Ashdod 
arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face 
to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And so they took Dagon 
and set it in its place again. They picked up Dagon and put 
him in his place again. You see, Dagon fell and is bowing 
before the true and the living God. Dagon fell and is worshiping 
this Yahweh of Israel. And it's not something we haven't 
seen already in the Bible, in Exodus chapter 12, when Yahweh 
is bringing forth the plagues, he's bringing judgment on the 
gods of Egypt, showing that he is the mighty God. He is the 
true God. He is the only God. And even 
here, he's showing that he is the one that all gods worship. But you know what? We'll give 
the Philistines the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there was 
an earthquake. Perhaps there was a bit of wind. 
And perhaps that just knocked it over. Notice round two, verse 
four. And when they arose early the 
next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground 
before the ark of the Lord. But the head of Dagon and both 
the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's 
torso was left of it. This time Dagon bows, but his 
hands are smashed, and his head is smashed, and all that's remaining 
is a torso. As the fathers were telling their 
children, they would have been giggling lots through this text, 
especially at this point. You see, the hand aspect, I think, 
contrasts with the hand of Yahweh in verse 6. You see, this God 
has no hands. But Yahweh will bring the hand 
of the Lord heavy on the people. He has no torso, and as Gil highlights, 
it signified that Dagon had neither the wisdom to contrive for his 
own safety, nor strength and power to defend himself. What 
kind of God is this? It's showing the powerlessness 
of Dagon and the powerfulness of Yahweh. And I think what's 
interesting is as much as the writer is teaching the Philistines 
something in the text, he's teaching the Israelites something. You 
see, as I've said already, the Israelites treat Yahweh like 
he's one God among many. They treat Yahweh and put him 
in their pantheon of gods. They're teaching him that Yahweh 
is the one, rather than Yahweh holding them in their hands, 
they hold Yahweh in their hands. Isn't that the essence of idolatry? 
Rather than God holding us in his hands, we hold God in ours, 
as if he's this small. That's exactly what they're doing. 
That's what the Israelites were doing. We know that, and we've 
already read in Psalm 78, but 1 Samuel 7, verse 3. Then Samuel spoke to all the 
house of Israel, saying, If you return to the Lord with all your 
hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from 
among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only, 
and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. 
And so the children of Israel put away the bales and the asterisks 
and served the Lord only. You see, what's interesting in 
this text is Dagon needs his people to pick him up. But God 
is showing the Israelites that he does not need them. Notice the impact in verse 5. 
Therefore, neither the priest of Dagon nor any who come into 
Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day." 
You see that impact. You see the threshold, as one 
commentator highlights, is what separated the sacred from the 
common. And you can even see these priests did not tread on 
the threshold in Dagon's house, because they knew something had 
happened that day. That's the impact. But the impact, 
perhaps, was not great enough, as we'll see in the next section. But nonetheless, this section 
really teaches us the foolishness of worshipping idols, doesn't 
it? The foolishness of worshipping things made by hands or those 
things conjured up in our hearts. It is truly the greatest problem 
in the world. What's the problem with the world? 
It is idolatry. Doesn't Paul talk about that 
in Romans chapter 1? Romans chapter 1, he talks about 
the wrath of God being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. He talks about idolatry. For since the creation of the 
world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. 
So they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they 
did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but became 
futile. in their thoughts, and their 
foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, 
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, 
made like corruptible man and birds, and four-footed animals, 
and creeping things." This is the problem of the world, isn't 
it? Worshipping things other than God. And even as he goes 
on to highlight, homosexuality is the epitome of what highlights 
that. You know, we always like to drill 
homosexuality in this text, and I'm going to talk about more 
in just a moment, but nonetheless, that's, as our brother said many 
times, that's a symptom of a greater disease, and that is idolatry. 
You want to know something very profound that one of my professors 
said? He says, when you think about homosexuality, when you 
think about what it actually is, it's lusting against after 
the self, isn't it? You look in the mirror of someone 
who looks exactly like you, and you burn for them. That is what 
epitomizes our love of self, isn't it? But we must be weary, brothers 
and sisters, for perhaps maybe we don't have those inclinations. 
Nonetheless, we have idols that stir in our hearts and in our 
souls all the time. And this is a problem for the 
people of Israel, as it's been seen. It's for the people of 
God. As Calvin says, our hearts are 
like idol factories. We create idols in our hearts. 
Maybe it's not made with hands. Maybe it's not something that's 
visibly seen like in other formal religions, but nonetheless we 
still make those things. As one professor, another professor 
also said, good goods make bad gods. Things that are good can 
become idols for us. Things like phones these days. Phones are a good thing. It's 
a gift from God to be able to call our friends, to know something 
easily. But how often are we clinging 
to them? Perhaps work. Our brother touched on it a little 
bit this morning. It's good to work, but nonetheless, are we 
working so much that we're neglecting other things? Are we neglecting 
God? Has that become our idol? Perhaps education. Education 
is a good thing as well, but can that become an idol? I must 
confess, as a seminarian, when I was in seminary, it was easy 
to make seminary an idol. It was difficult to commune with 
God sometimes. It was easy to have that desire 
of learning rather than communing with the God of heaven and earth. See, we conjure up idols very, 
very quickly. We do make good things into bad 
gods. We must be wary and check those 
things at the door and put away those false idols that come forth 
We must turn from our idols to the true and the living God always. And it's clearly an issue for 
believers, because as the end of 1 John says, little children, 
keep yourselves from idols. We still have remaining corruption. 
We still have that battle we must go through every day, and 
that is that one remnant of the disease that still rears its 
ugly head more often than not. We have this in us. It is foolishness 
to worship idols. It is foolishness to worship 
those things. We must turn from those things and worship the 
true and the living God. So we've seen the handless Dagon. 
Let us look secondly at the hand of Yahweh, verses 6 through 12. 
Now when I say hand of Yahweh, I'm obviously speaking, as her 
brother says many times, in the manner of men. God is without 
parts, but it's a way to highlight His power, and in this instant, 
highlight His punishment on the people. Notice verse 6. So after 
He's defeated Dagon, remember that logic? If you defeat Dagon, 
it's a symbol that the people have been defeated. Now He's 
going after the people. And he does it with tumors and 
terror. These tumors, perhaps as the margins of the New King 
James highly, perhaps it resembled the bubonic plague. They were 
great thickening of tissues of swelling. They were full of blood 
and pus and gross things and it hurt a lot. Painful, painful 
things. I know that's perhaps offensive 
to some. You know what's more offensive? 
It really is the idols in our heart. That's more offensive 
than blood and pus. But nonetheless, he deals with them with these 
tumors and terror. Both he ravaged them and struck 
them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And then they 
gathered together in verse seven. When the men of Ashdod saw how 
it was, they said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain 
with us. For his hand is harsh toward 
us, and Dagon, our God. Think about that for a moment. 
Dagon, our God, needs to be protected. What a wimp. What a wimpy God 
that needs to be protected by these people. You can almost 
see them as they're gathering around, hugging their idols, 
coddling that little idol, saying, we need to protect this little 
one. What God is this? But you know what's interesting? They still recognize that Dagon 
is crushed, but nonetheless, they still want to cling to him. 
Isn't this the foolishness of sin? The foolishness of paganism? The foolishness of idolatry, 
where it leads to if we do not know Christ? We create God as 
if He's one among many. They do not recognize God as 
the true and the living God. They do not recognize Him as 
the only God. They thought he was one among 
many, and they wanted him out of there. And that's what happens. They send him away. Notice in verse 8, Therefore they sent 
and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines 
and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? 
And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried 
away to Gath. So they carried the ark of the 
God of Israel away. So rather than dealing with it 
in Ashdod, they take it to Gath. And perhaps the reasons for that, 
perhaps could be because Ashdod was on the coast, perhaps they 
were going away from the sea. You see, if you also have the 
New King James in your margin, it highlights what the Greek 
translation and the Latin translation of the Old Testament adds at 
verse 6. And in the midst of their land, rats sprang up, and 
there was a great death panic in the city. You see, the Septuagint, 
the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and the Vulgate, 
the Latin translation, Attribute it to rats. But the Hebrew leaves 
that out. Do you know why? It's because 
it's God who's crushing them. It's God who's bringing judgment 
upon them. It's God who's routing the enemies of Israel. That's 
the focus. That's the point. God does not 
need his people. He does not need rats. But he 
crushes his enemies. And they recognized that he was 
crushing them. So notice what happens in verse 
9. So it was after they carried it away that the hand of the 
Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And 
he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors 
broke out on them. So Gath gets the same treatment. 
So what do they do? Therefore, in verse 10, they 
sent the ark of God to Ekron. Get it out of Ashdod. Get it 
out of Gath. Send it to Ekron. And notice 
how the Ekronites respond. Don't bring it here. They probably 
see it walking in and they're like, no, no, no. Notice, they have brought the 
ark of God of Israel to us to kill us and our people. The recognition is that Yahweh 
is the one who's bringing judgment upon them. Yahweh is bringing 
punishment upon them. So notice what they say in verse 
11. So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines 
and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it 
go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction 
throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy 
there. You see, they still lacked understanding, 
didn't they? They still lacked understanding 
that Yahweh is the only God. Yahweh is the God who is omnipresent, 
who is everywhere present. They lacked understanding that 
this is the one, rather than clinging to Dagon, they must 
destroy Dagon and look to God, the only God. Isn't this the 
delusion of man? The delusion of idolatry? Isn't 
this perhaps what we hear sometimes in our modern day with perhaps 
Jesus, with God? He's one prophet among many. 
He's one way among many. He's one God among many. All 
roads lead to the same place. You see, there's only one God. 
If we walked into a Buddhist temple with a bat and started 
smashing all those statues, those idols wouldn't say anything. 
If we began smashing all the elephants in the Hindu temples, 
they wouldn't utter a word, because they have no power. Yet people 
think they have power. There's only one God. That is 
the true and the living God. And what this highlights for 
us is the fact that Yahweh is a divine warrior, doesn't it? He goes around routing His enemies, 
routing the enemies of His people, kind of like a king should, right? And if you think about 1 Samuel, 
in 1 Samuel chapter 8, that's when Israel demands a king. Yahweh 
is going around destroying His people's enemies like a king 
should. And even we already read in Psalm 
78 verse 65, he awoke and routed his enemies. He's this warrior. And we perhaps need to recognize 
that Christ himself is a divine warrior as well. Genesis 3.15, 
he shall crush the head of the serpent. Psalm 1.10, the Lord 
said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies 
a footstool. Mark 1 verse 7, John confessing 
who Christ is, one who is mightier than I, that carries with it 
the idea of one who is a divine warrior. Revelation chapter 19, 
the rider on white who judges and makes war. This is Christ. This is the King. This is the 
one who helps us in our weakness, who helps us in our futility, 
helps us in our feebleness, who conquers sin, conquers death. 
It is okay to speak of Christ's work in some sense as a conquest. fulfilling the law in perfection, 
going to that cross, taking sin upon himself, defeating sin, 
defeating death, defeating the enemy that you and I might have 
everlasting life. We need this King. We need this 
warrior. We need this Christ. He is the 
divine warrior. And even here, we see God's great 
grace to His people, routing their enemies. How many times 
does Israel commit adultery against their husband? Exodus 32, on 
their wedding night, commit adultery. And how many times do we see 
them, night after night after night after night, committing 
adultery against their God? Yet God forgives them and is 
long-suffering and is patient with them. I don't think we would 
be as patient with our spouses. We see his mercy here, and we 
see his mercy in the fact that he is this warrior helping us 
in our weakness. Notice the response in verse 
12 from the Philistines. And the men who did not die were 
stricken with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. They see the severity of it. 
They understand the severity of this judgment. They understand 
the severity at which they were being stricken with these things. Who is this one? This one is 
Yahweh of Israel, the true and the living God. You may be able 
to send him away, but you cannot hide from him. He is everywhere 
present. He is not like the idols that 
are contained by the things made by man. He's everywhere present. So then in this section, we've 
seen the foolishness of idols in the first section, but in 
this section we see the power of God, don't we? We see the 
power of God routing His enemies. The power of God bringing judgment 
upon His enemies. And if you are an unbeliever 
here today, this will happen. If you are not with God, you 
are against God. You must believe on this one 
so he can reconcile an enemy which you are as a friend. Look 
to this Christ, look to this King, and you shall have everlasting 
life. For he will bring judgment upon 
his enemies, those ones who rebel against him, those ones who sin 
against him. Perhaps you don't realize you 
have that disease of idolatry permeating throughout your veins. 
And you need the word of God to show you that. You need the 
Holy Spirit to show you that. And we pray that that would happen, 
which is why we proclaim the word to you. For if you do not 
know this God, you will die in your trespasses and sins. You 
will die in your disease. There is no cure except in Christ. 
There is no cure except looking to Jesus. There is no cure except 
being washed in the blood of Christ. Look to this one. He has power to defeat his enemies, 
but God has power to save dead sinners. Believer. When we struggle with 
idolatry, when we conjure up those things in our hearts, God 
Almighty helps us and He's powerful to help us defeat those things. 
Go to Him in prayer. Watch and pray and fight like 
we should each and every day. Although it's even hard to watch 
and pray and fight because we have idols. Nonetheless, we go 
to our God. He can help us and strengthen 
us in the daily battle, in the daily struggle, in the things 
that perhaps are really difficult for us to break. We need him 
every hour, the most gracious Lord. So then in conclusion, we do 
see that because Yahweh is the true and the living God, we must 
not serve lifeless idols. We must not worship those things. 
We must not worship things that we make with our hearts. We've 
seen the foolishness of idolatry, yet we've seen the power of Yahweh. So let me close by asking this 
question that I started at the beginning, two questions. Which 
gods do you worship? Which god should you worship? 
Let us pray. O Lord God Almighty, you are 
the true and the living God, and you are the only God. God, 
how often do we know this, but yet forget it? How often are 
we prone to leave you, the God that we do love? We thank you 
for Christ, our King. We thank you for that divine 
warrior who defeated sin, who defeated death, who defeated 
the curse of the law, fulfilled the law in perfection. We thank 
you for his mercy. We thank you for your mercy upon 
us. We thank you for your power in calling dead sinners out of 
darkness into marvelous light. We pray that you'd help us in 
our daily battles, O God, by your power, by your Holy Spirit, 
that we might die more and more unto sin and grow more and more 
unto the image of Christ our King. We thank you for your Holy 
Spirit. And as our brother reminded us 
this morning, may we have a robust view of the Holy Spirit. For 
we have that indwelling Holy Spirit for those that know Christ, 
conforming us, shaping us, pointing us to Christ our King. May we 
ever resemble him, O God. Will we confess that we have 
been idolatrous. We confess this sin. We confess 
the many sins that are tied to it, O God. We confess that we 
have not worshipped you as we ought. We pray that you would 
forgive us, wash us, and cleanse us in the blood of Christ. For 
those today who do not know Christ, we pray that you would cause 
them to look upon Christ. Show them their sin, show them 
this disease, and point them to the only cure in Christ. Point 
them to the blood of Christ. Help them to look and live that 
they might have everlasting life. And we pray that this would be 
the day of salvation for some. We thank you for your power. 
We thank you for your patience. We thank you for your long-suffering 
with us, O God. We pray that you would help and 
strengthen us now by your power. We pray that you would be glorified 
in all things in the name of Christ. Amen. We'll close with 
a brief time of meditation.