Return in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. This is a bit of a different sermon. I've mentioned that recently profited from a book by the name of We Become What We Worship by G.K.
Beale. It's a biblical theology of idolatry. You realize that sounds a bit odd. Why would anybody find enjoyment on a book treating idolatry?
Well, it's a theme that is very much treated on in the scriptures, from Genesis all the way through Revelation. So tonight, I'm just going to take some of the main ideas from that particular book and just try to incorporate into our own thinking what idolatry is all about. As I said, the name of the book is We Become What We Worship, and his whole thesis is this. What you revere, you resemble. either for ruin or restoration.
We see this principle a lot in our own lives or perhaps with our children. You might notice that your child or young teenager is hanging around with a person or a certain group of people, and when they come around you, they're using that same language. They might be parroting some of the same speech. When we are with people, they rub off on us.
The idea is very simple. We spend time in the presence of God, and we will be godly, hopefully. When we spend time in the presence of our idols, we resemble them. We become like them.
And again, this is a message or a theme repeat throughout the scripture. So I commend that book to you. We become what we worship. It is very interesting, very intriguing, and a very good handling of the biblical material.
But I just want to read Romans chapter one, where we'll look at specifically and then look at some other passages as background this evening. I'll pick up reading in Romans 1 at verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 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 that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were 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. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another. men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness.
They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we just pray now that you would fill us with your Spirit as we consider Romans 1, as we consider the rest of the Scripture. God, as we just sketch this idea, we pray that you would guide us further in our thinking and in our living and help us, God, to see idolatry as the great affront to you as it is. Help us, Lord God, to seek fidelity and to seek to be undivided in our attention given wholly to you.
We just pray that you would forgive us that there is a waywardness in us, that there is a remaining proneness to wander. And we would pray, God most high, that through a study of scripture, we would learn that you hate these things and that you would just grant us the grace and the spirit so that we may not depart from you. And we ask these things in Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Introduction
We'll look at the context here in Romans chapter 1. The reason I read this is so that later, as we go through some of the Old Testament scriptures, we'll see that Paul is not doing anything new here. He is simply rehearsing what has already been written in the Holy Scripture concerning this idea of idolatry or exchanging the truth of God for the lie. So we'll look at the context briefly of Romans chapter one and see what's going on here.
Secondly, we'll notice some background, some background information, other texts that will help us to understand more fully some of the statements that Paul makes here in Romans chapter one. And then thirdly, we'll draw out some implications, highlight just a couple of the more popular idols that we are prone to in our worship.
Context of Romans 1
The first thing we need to understand, though, is that Romans is the great declaration of the gospel. Paul makes a thesis statement, Romans chapter one, verses 16 and 17. If you return to school on Tuesday, you're going to have to start thinking again about thesis statements. You're going to have to start thinking again about topics.
Well, this is precisely what he does. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He says, for in that gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. That's the thesis.
That's the topic. That's what he's going to discuss. And then he opens up in verse 18 with the bad news, because the gospel, the good news doesn't make sense without the background of bad news first. If I come to you and say, I've got good news for you, you might say, what do you mean, good news?
Is there bad news? Well, in this case, that is precisely how he begins. He doesn't begin with love. He doesn't begin with blessing.
He doesn't begin with God giving. He begins with the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress truth in unrighteousness. He says that they know God. But they are not consistent with that knowledge.
Rather, they don't honor God as God, nor are they thankful. And then he begins to open up the guilt of mankind. in chapter one, beginning in verse 18. He highlights the guilt of man in general in chapter one, the guilt of the Jews specifically in chapter two. And then in chapter three, from nine to verse 19, he summarizes with the Old Testament, the reality that sin is a universal problem. that all men everywhere are guilty and liable to judgment before God most high.
The concluding statement is found in verse 20 when he says in chapter three, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. So having specified or or explained rather the universality of sin and condemnation. It's in that background or from that vantage point that he then turns his attention to.
But now the righteousness of God is revealed. This leads him to consider the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It leads him to consider the Lord Jesus and his great redemptive work at Calvary. It leads him in the whole discussion of sanctification.
It leads him in his discussion in terms of God's electing and sovereign purposes with reference to his people. And then that comes all the way to chapter 11, when he finishes up the whole doctrinal section of his exposition of the gospel. And then in chapter 12, beginning in verse 1, he says, therefore, he says, by the mercies of God, I beseech you. And then he begins to make practical application based on the doctrine of the gospel.
So that's an overview briefly of the book of Romans. But if you look specifically at some of his statements in chapter one, we'll notice these things have been said already in the history of redemption. Notice in chapter one, verse twenty three, they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image of the incorruptible. I'm sorry.
They change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. And then notice in verse 25, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen.
Background: Creation and the Fall
Now let's look at some background. What is feeding the apostle? What is in his mind as he comes to write Romans chapter 1? As he begins to declare man's sin problem, he is thinking in terms of creation.
God's purpose in creation initially He made man in his own image and man as image bearer of God was designed to reflect God's glory. This is something basic and fundamental. He made man in his image so that we would reflect his glory and bring honor and praise to him. But we see not only after man is created by God in Genesis chapter one, he defects from God in Genesis chapter three.
There is a reversal. There is a gross reversal. Paul mentions from since the creation of the world. He mentions the fourfold specification of God's creation activity.
That leads me to conclude that he is thinking in terms of the Genesis narrative, Genesis one to three. So God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices. If you look back in Genesis chapter three for just a moment, you see this defection, you see it in its reversal. God made man as his image bearer and God made man to exercise dominion.
Don't you remember that? Let us make man in our image. Genesis 1, 26 to 28. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. What happens when we get to Genesis chapter 3? There's a role reversal. Instead of man exercising dominion over the creation, we now see the creation in terms of the serpent exercising dominion over the man.
It is a complete reversal of God's intention in the garden. We see the tempter come via the serpent. He addresses the woman. She is supposed to be under the rule or submission to her husband.
But the tempter addresses her, deceives her. She takes the fruit. She gives it to Adam, who is with her, and they eat and transgress against the living and the true God. Adam listened to the serpent and followed his murderous direction.
So there was a role reversal there. But as well, what did the tempter hold out to them? Ye shall be as gods. This is the grand thing that was tempting to them.
If you look at Genesis chapter three, verse five, the serpent says, God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, It was a bit of an interest in nutrition on her part. She saw that the treat was good for food. Just like today, you go to Superstore, you go to Hofstede's, you go to Price Mart, you see a peach, it's good for food.
You don't buy the most grotesque looking one, you buy the one that looks good for food. You are driven by a desire to properly, to have proper nutrition. Then it says, That it was pleasant to the eyes. So it looked good as well.
There was an aesthetic appeal about this particular tree. Notice what it goes on to say. And a tree desirable to make one wise. Ye shall be as God.
This was the grand bait with the tempter. you will be like God. So there is a reversal in the garden. There is a desire to be as God. Later on in the prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 28, highlighting the wickedness of the king of Tyre, he rehearses this scene in the Garden of Eden and how basically and essentially what was going on here was a desire to exalt themselves into the place and the position of God Most High.
So when we look at Romans chapter 1, we know that Paul has some background in his mind. But it doesn't stop there with the creation.
Background: Israel's Idolatry
It continues on through the history of Israel. There is a sense where what we worship, we become like. When we exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for the corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things, degradation comes. Bad things happen.
There's no accident in this account, Romans 1, that ungodliness precedes unrighteousness. What we think of God, how we respond to God, how we live in terms of God, affects our practice here on earth. Now, let's just look at some other passages where I think this becomes apparent. Exodus 32.
Look at Exodus 32. I realize there's big holes in this exposition in terms of G.K. Beale's book. If anything, it's a sampler.
You need to get the book, read it if you're interested in a biblical theology of idolatry. But next it is 32. We read an account that is pervasive throughout scripture. It's the event where they worship the golden calf.
Moses is getting the law. Moses is at Sinai. When he comes down, he sees the people in defection. He sees them in apostasy.
Remember, Aaron led them in this particular instance, but just verses 7 to 10 for now. Notice in verse 7, Jehovah said to Moses, go get down for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.
And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. Later in Romans 3, this is something Paul cites, not from this passage, but they have all turned to their own way.
They've all abandoned the living and the true God. And interestingly enough, these people have become stiff-necked. I remember years ago, a brother that used to be in our church, he was a dairy farmer. And I remember mentioning something to him about the humble cows that he dairy farmed.
You look at a cow, right? They're just humble, cool creatures, aren't they? They just sit there. They cow.
They eat. They produce milk. They chill. You don't think cow and ferocity are anything bad.
But he said, let me tell you about these humble creatures. Cows can be very ornery. Cows can be very stubborn. I'm sure some of you know it a lot better than I do, having been born and raised in Chilliwack and having dealt with the agricultural community.
You know this better than I do. They're stiff-necked, aren't they? You have to break them. You have to put a yoke on them in order to pull them back.
You have to put a yoke on them in order to guide them. You see what's happening here? They've become what they worship. They have become stiff-necked like a cow.
They have become stiff-necked and hard of heart, and they want to go their own way. They are taking on the very characteristic of the cow that they are worshiping. You say, well, that's outlandish. No, it isn't.
That is precisely what the further revelation of God indicates. There is degradation involved in idolatry. We become what we worship. When we throw off God, we engage in all manner of wickedness and evil and vileness.
Turn over to Psalm 106 for a moment. Psalm 106. Some of the very language used in Psalm 106 is the very language that Paul is using specifically in Romans 1, 23 and 25.
Psalm 106 and the Golden Calf
Notice in Psalm 106, verse 19, they made a calf in Horeb and worship the molded image. Thus, they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. Now Beal argues, and I think he's right, it's not just the exchange of the glory of God for the odds. It's their own glory, made as image bearers of God, made in covenant with God.
They were to reflect His glory, such that when they abandon Him and they begin to worship this calf idol, they now manifest its pseudo glory. They manifest its character. They changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt.
Wondrous works in the land of Ham. Awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore, He said that He would destroy them had not Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach to turn away His wrath lest He destroy them.
Jeremiah and the Exchange of Glory
Look at Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2 for a moment. It's rehearsing a few of these passages just to show that when Paul writes Romans 1, he is being consistent with all that has preceded him. He is identifying the sin of man, connecting it very intimately with idolatry, with apostasy, with defection from the living and true God, the exchanging of the incorruptible God with a corruptible man and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Thus says Jehovah, what injustice have your fathers found in me that they have gone far from me, have followed idols and have become idolaters. Could be, and have followed vanity and have become vanity. It's an accurate translation. They have followed vanity and they have become vanity.
Notice in verse 11 of Jeremiah chapter 2. Has a nation changed its gods which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit." You see, that very theme Paul picks up in Romans 1. They've exchanged, they have changed the glory of the incorruptible God for that which is corruptible.
They're idolaters. They have defected. They have apostatized. They are in a bad state.
Man's condition, as we saw this morning, is one of blindness. It's one of darkness. It's one of bowing to idols, whether it be a calf idol at Horeb, whether it be your own pocketbook, whether it be your own carnal security, whether it be whatever, anything that we seek our security in becomes for us an idol if it is not the living and the true God. And then in Jeremiah, I'm sorry, Hosea chapter four, the first of the minor prophets, Hosea chapter four.
Hosea four, verses 16 and 17, for Israel is stubborn like a stubborn calf. Now the Lord will let them forage like a lamb in open country. Ephraim has joined the idols. Let him alone.
Their drink is rebellion. They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor. The wind is wrapped her up in its wings and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn calf. She has become that which she worshiped.
Psalm 115: We Become What We Worship
Now go back to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, where this principle is stated very clearly, that we become what we worship. Psalm 115, beginning in verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.
Why should the Gentiles say so? Where is their God? But our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold. The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see.
They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk.
I imagine at times when Israel was in her finer days and she was singing this particular song, she'd be tempted to grin of it. I mean, it sounds pretty wacky, doesn't it? You're worshiping something that has eyes but cannot see, has a mouth but it cannot speak, has ears but it cannot hear. You heathen, you pagan, you are really messed up.
I mean, you're praying to a dumb idol. He can't hear you. Remember the image of Molech. Molech was an idol, a statue that was formed with its arms outstretched.
They would light the fire around Molech and they would take their babies and throw it into the arms of Molech. Well, Molech couldn't catch, so the babies would bounce off and die in the fire. Why do you think Israel is commanded over and over by God not to engage in Molech worship? Don't let their children pass through the fire.
Don't engage in Baalism, because what you worship, you become like. It is degrading. It reduces you to a sinful, vile mess before the living and true God. And here he goes on to say, verse 7, they have hands, but they do not handle.
Feet they have, but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. And notice verse 8. Those who make them are like them.
So is everyone who trusts in them. Those who make them are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them. We read that in Isaiah chapter 6.
The condemnation upon apostate Israel at the time of the prophet. Keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, Isaiah 6, 9 and 10, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.
Instead of bearing the image of God and reflecting His glory, the idolater bears the image of his idol and reflects its characteristics. In this instance, they have eyes that do not see, they have ears that do not hear. We know that idolatry was a problem at the time of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 4.
Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward.
Doesn't Paul say this in Romans chapter 1? They don't even like to retain the knowledge of God in their hearts. Same thing. They have turned back.
They have defected. They have apostatized. Notice in chapter one, verse twenty nine, for they shall be ashamed of the terrible trees which you have desired and you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens which you have chosen. You talking about condemning a desire to hang out in gardens?
No, they worship idols in their gardens. They worship idols among the terrible trees. They worship idols among God's creation. They would bow down to God's creation.
Isaiah is a prophet engaged in a polemic against idolatry in the nation of Israel. Over in chapter 2, at verse 8, Isaiah 2, verse 8, their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. People bow down and each man humbles himself.
Therefore, do not forgive them. Chapter two, verses 18 and 19. But the idols he shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
Paul's Polemic Against Idolatry
So when we go to Romans chapter one and we understand what Paul is saying here, his polemic is also against idolatry. Man has a universal problem. Sin, yes, but idolatry. Idolatry, wherein we would rather have the creature than God, who is blessed forever.
We would rather worship the serpent. We would rather worship creeping things. We'd rather worship our wallets. We'd rather worship ourselves.
We'd rather worship sex or drugs or rock and roll. We would rather anything other than God. That's what's so indicting about the prophet Jeremiah when we read chapter 2, verse 11. Has a nation changed its gods, which are not God?
You know what he's saying there? The heathen are more consistent in their worship than the covenant community. But my people have changed their glory. That is a horrific indictment.
So you see, when Paul comes in Romans 1 to establish the fact that all men everywhere are under sin, he is not doing anything new. He is simply rehearsing biblical theology. He is simply rehearsing this theology of idolatry. As Douglas Mooe comments on Romans chapter 1 verse 23, he says, this tragic process of human God-making continues apace in our own day.
And Paul's words have as much relevance for people who have made money or sex or famed their gods as for those who carved idols out of wood and stone. Thus, as verses 24 to 31 show, The whole dreadful panoply of sins that plague humanity has its roots in the soil of this idolatry. Don't miss that. Verse 21 in Romans 1 is the problem.
We look at verses 24 and following and say, wow, look at how wicked man is. Man is wicked in the expression of his sinfulness. The issue is found in verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. What they think about God, how they deny the true and the living God, That is the soil from which all of these rotten fruits of individual sin grow.
Look at homosexuality, for instance. We say, oh, that's an abomination. It is an abomination. But that is a symptom of their idolatry.
You look at murder, covetousness. Those are wicked. They're symptoms of idolatry. What's the answer?
The answer is to preach the gospel. to call men to bow to Jesus Christ and give their allegiance to the true and living God. See, the idea is that when you identify with the Lord God Most High, Through the mediator of the better covenant, which is the new covenant, you are washed from your sins. You are justified. You are sanctified.
The idea is, in that particular time, you will be transformed into his image, the one you spend time with, the one you worship, the one you revere. You will resemble, but in this case, for restoration and not for ruin. So when we look at verses 24 and following, we see all these wicked sins. It's easy for the church to be anti this sin or anti this sin or anti this sin and forget the root problem.
Forget the underlying issue. These are idolaters. They have exchanged the glory of the true and living God and they are pursuing idols. It ought not to surprise us that all of these vices and all of these sins and all of this wickedness issues for.
Brethren, man's problem is that he has turned from the living and the true God. It's interesting if you want to write this down later to investigate it. Three times in verses 24 and following, Paul says, therefore, God gave them up. What's God's judgment?
In fact, when you look at 24 and following, you see this sin. Some people might see in this, hey, a liberated society where free love and sex and all these things are just celebrated. When we see this manifest in society, we can conclude that God the Lord has given us up. That's a horrific thing.
It's not sexual liberty. It's not a revolution. It is judgment, judicial hardening from God most high. Well, if you pursue Psalm 106 toward the very end, After he had said what they had done, they had exchanged their glory, he says that God gave them up to the Gentiles.
Paul sounds just like the psalmist of Psalm 106. They've engaged in idolatry. They have defected from the living God. God gave them up to the Gentiles so that they would be destroyed.
It's the same idea here. God gives them up to uncleanness. Verse 26, God gave them up to vile passions. Verse 28, God gave them over to a debased mind.
It's as if God says, you want your sin? You can have it. I believe this is a picture of hell. This is precisely what hell will be.
Hell is the place where God says, you want your sin? You can have it. You can have it in exclusion from the living and through God. You can have it under punishment and suffering.
You chose sin over God? God will ultimately give you your wish at the end. This is a picture of hell on earth when God gives men over in their sin.
Common Idols in the Modern Age
Well, what are some common idols before we close?
The Idol of False Religion
The idol of false religion. It's interesting. In 1 John, chapter 5, verse 21, John ends his letter in a way that none of us ever would. He says, little children, keep yourselves from idols.
That wouldn't win any church growth sort of letter writing campaign today, would it? You've got to end on a positive note, brother. Come on, all this talk of idols, what are you doing? My little children, keep yourselves from idols." I think the whole context of 1 John is truth.
He speaks of Jesus as being the true and eternal God. He speaks of the Antichrist. We often associate the Antichrist with some future malevolent figure. We often associate the Antichrist with some political figure that's alive and well on planet Earth today.
Well, the only time Antichrist is mentioned is in 1st and 2nd John. The Antichrist was a heresy, plaguing the churches. Antichrist denied three particular truths with reference to Christ. They denied that Jesus is the Christ, 1st John 2.22.
They denied the Father and the Son, 1st John 2.23. They denied that Jesus came in the flesh, 1st John 4.13 and 2nd John 7. That's what Antichrist was. Now, I believe that's extant today.
I believe there are false churches. I believe there are synagogues of Satan. I believe there are cults and religious groups that deny Jesus as the Christ. They deny the Father and the Son.
They deny that Jesus came in the flesh. That's what Antichrist is, according to 1 John and 2 John. So, false religion. A departure from creedal orthodoxy.
A departure from biblical, faithful exposition of the Scripture. A departure from the person and work of the Lord Jesus. You see, some of these studies on a Sunday night when it's warm and stuffy and you're either going to go home and eat or you've just eaten may seem a little bit, oh man, this is hard to sort of muscle through. The doctrine of Christ you need to be down with.
You need to understand who Jesus is. Jesus said it very clear in John 8, if you Do not believe that I am. You will die in your sins. You cannot be wrong about who Jesus Christ is.
Second, John, verse nine. Second, John, verse nine makes this very, very clear. You don't understand who Jesus is. You will die in your sin.
Second, John, verse nine. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him.
For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. So we need to have true biblical understanding of who Jesus is. So it's not only a denial of Jesus, but in Galatians chapter one, we see it's a perversion of the grace of God. This is something very, very much in play today.
This is why I'm calling attention to this. I'm not for a moment thinking any of you are going to go engage in religious worship of a totem pole. You might, that would blow my mind though, but I just don't think that's our danger. I really don't.
Just like I don't think the danger here is that somebody's going to go buy a gun and shoot somebody. You may. I mean, strange things happen in this world. I have learned over my short span in this world not to be too surprised about anything.
But our temptation in the realm of religious idolatry is probably not going to be ancestor worship. It's probably not going to be a statue that we feed, a statue that we clothe, a statue that we burn incense to, a statue that we bow to, a statue that we have in our particular home. I don't think that's our temptation. It may be, and if it is for you, repent.
Don't do that. I think our temptation is to fall into the Galatian era. I think our temptation is to engage in the idol of faith plus works in order for salvation. That's an idol.
That's wrong. You're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. It's not by what your hands have done. It's not what you promote or produce.
It's not your circumcision. It's not your church attendance. It's not your good works. It's not your performance.
It's all of grace. It's all of Christ. Paul says to the Galatians, as we've seen recent months, Galatians chapter one, he comes out fighting with these brethren, not physically, but polemically. I marvel, he says in verse six, that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another.
But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Our proneness in terms of false religion is to deny Jesus or to deny grace.
And if we do that, we become idolaters.
The Idol of Mammon
A second area of idolatry common to man is the idol of mammon. Money. Possessions. Stuff.
Jesus made it very clear. You cannot serve God and mammon. The scripture makes it very clear. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Not money. Money in and of itself is not evil. It doesn't go to rob banks. It doesn't shoot people. doesn't deal drugs.
Money is a tool that the idolater uses or abuses, that the godly man uses. Understand that? It's not as if God is saying, you can't have money, you can't have anything. Some see virtue in getting rid of everything you have.
Some see virtue in living in monasteries. Some see virtue in wearing hair shirts. Some see virtue in putting ashes in your soup. Some see virtue in suffering for suffering's sake.
God does not condemn money. God condemns loving it. God condemns being divided in your attention. God condemns you putting your safety and security in your money, in your possessions, in your portfolio.
I don't even know what a portfolio is. I just hear that talk sometimes. I envision this thing of papers that means you've got money. What do they do?
Go look at the portfolio. Wow, I got money. Ooh, look at that, my portfolio. Whoa!
Jesus makes this clear, man. You know. You know better than I. Well, not better than I.
I know, too. how easy it is to shift our security from the living and true God to stuff. We need to be careful, especially in affluent North America. Probably in Haiti, this isn't the number one temptation for them to revel in their portfolios. They're not holding on to their mammon with the death grip.
But in affluent North America, that is the propensity. Remember Jesus taught in Mark 8, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Keep that in perspective. The Bible does not forbid or condemn hard work.
In fact, you young people, you young men, know I preach, go out and work hard. Leslie's maxim is appropriate here. Make all you can, give all you can, save all you can. It's a good doctrine, good economic policy.
Make all you can, give all you can, save all you can. That's good. But it's when you transfer the security that you should have in God to that stuff, that's when you become an idolater. So the idol of false religion, the idol of mammon, and then the idol And I think this is probably the biggest is
The Idol of Self
the idol of self. The idol of self. It's interesting when Paul describes the character of men in the last days, according to Second Timothy, chapter three, which last days I think we are living in now. But I'm also convinced that Timothy was living in them also.
Second Timothy, chapter three, verse one. Know this, that in the last days, that's the time between the first and the second coming of Jesus. That's the period the Bible calls the last day. He says, know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come, for men will be, notice, lovers of themselves.
You don't need a room to put your statue in if you're an idolater of yourself, because wherever you are, you're going to give yourself worship. You think about that thesis of Beale again, what we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or restoration. You think about that. How, if I'm an idolater of myself, do I become like myself?
I become more proud. I become more arrogant. I become more self-independent. I become more self-sufficient.
I become more obnoxious to anybody around me. Again, the picture of the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 depicts this for us. The man who worships himself thinks only of himself. He resembles what he worships, and that for ruin.
The very first mark of men in the last days is that they will be lovers of themselves. Lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And notice what he says. And from such people turn away.
Timothy is living in the last days among such men as described here. What is one of the purposes behind the Christian gospel? There are manifold, there are a multitude of purposes. The glory of God, the salvation of sinners.
Paul indicates one in 2 Corinthians 5 15. He says that Jesus died for all in the context, all those who believe in him. Jesus died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." What's the implication? That prior to the cross, you only ever lived for yourself.
Your life was defined by you, for you, of you, about you. Now, when we get converted, when we get saved, when we get washed in the blood of Jesus, there is still that remaining tendency. And I think that very often when it comes to this idolatry of self, we just associate with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But I think there's a more respectable idolatry of self.
What one man, what Beal has called excessive self-focus. That's what I want to end on tonight. Excessive self-focus. Is your life defined only in terms of you?
We need to think outside the box, to use a common saying today. We need to think first in terms of God, and then others, and then ourselves. It's a good discipline, a good habit to get into. God first, others next, and then you.
The temptation is to invert that. The temptation is me, God. Me, others. The temptation is to be oriented wholly. completely and thoroughly by me, myself, and I.
I'm not saying you people are all jacked up. I know this temptation. I know what excessive self-focus is all about. I read this a couple of weeks ago at prayer meeting, and I think it bears repeating.
Beal here is quoting two men, the conclusion of his book on idolatry. He's speaking about self-worship. Again, not somebody spending all their money, all their time, all their energy on sex and drugs and rock and roll, on the baser things in life, just to please their flesh. So those things are bad in terms of idols.
I don't suggest you go get addicted to sex, drugs, and rock and roll in an attempt to idolize yourself. But he speaks of self-worship. One man by the name of David Wells says this. What is uppermost on their minds is not the moral fabric of life, but how to cope with their wayward personalities, self-doubt, the stages of life, marital stress, as well as calamities like job losses and the soaring cost of college tuition.
Now, he's not saying it's bad or wrong and wicked to think about these sorts of things. It's bad or wrong or wicked when we're defined by these things, when we're obsessed with these things. When what is uppermost on our minds is not the moral fabric of life in terms of pursuing God, pursuing holiness, seeking to be a blessing to others. But when my coping with wayward personality, self-doubt, stages of life, marital stress, as well as calamities like job losses and the soaring cost of college tuition.
He says these are the things that are intensely real to them and that drain their psychological energy. However, while these are not inconsequential matters, they are not burning moral issues with which the Bible is concerned. What is central to the Bible is the true and the right sin and grace, God's wrath and Christ's death. What is central to so many people today is simply what offers internal relief.
Rather, we have churches and whole ministries calculated to feed that sort of self-worship. He goes on to say, much of the church today, especially that part of it which is evangelical, is in captivity to this idolatry of the self. This is a form of corruption far more profound than the list of infractions that typically pop into our minds when we hear the word sin. He says, we are trying to hold at bay the gnats of small sins while swallowing the camel of self.
It is idolatry as pervasive and as spiritually debilitating as were many of the entanglements with pagan religions recounted for us in the Old Testament. That this devotion to the self seems not to be like that older devotion to a pagan god blinds the church to its own unfaithfulness. The end result, however, is no less devastating, because the self is no less demanding. It has as powerful an organizing center as any god or goddess on the market.
The contemporary church is whoring after this god as assiduously as the Israelites in their darker days. It is baptizing as faith, the pride that leads us to think much about ourselves and much of ourselves. That's pretty penetrating. Then he quotes another man, Eugene Peterson.
He says, do we realize how almost exactly the Baal culture of Canaan is reproduced in American church culture? Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Remember that? We considered Elijah, Mount Carmel, fighting the prophets of Baal.
They wanted Baal to perform. They wanted Baal to produce rain so that their crops would be watered. Bale was a fertility god, so the people would copulate. The people would engage in sexual immorality as sort of an attempt to prime the pump so that Bale would act likewise.
Very pragmatic, very practical. We give to you, you give to us. He says, Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Baal worship is a total immersion in what I can get out of it.
And of course, it was incredibly successful. The Baal priest could gather crowds that outnumbered the followers of Yahweh 20 to 1. There was sex. There was excitement.
There was music. There was ecstasy. There was dance. We got girls over here, friends.
We got statues, girls and festivals. This was great stuff. And what did the Hebrews have to offer in response? The word.
What's the word? Well, Hebrews had festivals at least. He says it's the biggest word we have, salvation, being saved. We are saved from a way of life in which there was no resurrection.
We're being saved from ourselves. One way to define spiritual life is getting so tired and fed up with yourself. You go on to something better, which is following Jesus. But the minute we start advertising the faith in terms of benefits, we're just exacerbating the self problem with Christ.
You're better, stronger and more likable. You enjoy some ecstasy. Don't think for a moment this isn't going on here, the slogans, things go better with Jesus as if he's a coke. Come to Jesus and you'll be healthy, wealthy and wise.
I think that was Ben Franklin, said that was the benefit of getting up early. Sometimes you come to Jesus, you don't get help, you don't get wealth, hopefully you get wisdom. I hope you'll get a little wisdom. The church preachers are oftentimes preaching to Jesus just to fill a void in somebody's heart or in somebody's incomplete life.
We're not preaching salvation. We're not preaching grace. We're not preaching dealing with sin. We're not preaching the wrath of an angry God.
He goes on to say, it's just more self. Instead, we want to get people bored with themselves so they can start looking at Jesus. He says we've all met a certain type of spiritual person. She's a wonderful person.
She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the Bible all the time. But all she thinks about is herself. This really hit me.
Really hit home with me. She prays and reads the Bible all the time, but all she thinks about is herself. She's not a selfish person, but she's always at the center of everything she's doing. How can I witness better?
How can I do this better? How can I take care of this person's problem better? It's me, me, disguised in a way that is difficult to see because her spiritual talk disarms us. I think what was most penetrating to me about this is that we do mean well, but if we're not careful, we can be the center and focus of our lives, even in meaning well.
We don't want to become like us. We want to become like Jesus. We want to continue on through that idolatrous mess of Romans chapter 1 and 2 and 3 to the but now in Romans 3 21. But now the righteousness of God is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness which is through faith in Jesus.
You look to Jesus. Constantly and always. I'm not saying you'll never look at self. I'm not saying you'll never struggle with self-idolatry.
But the best antidote to this sort of self-love and preoccupation with self is Christ. Christ the Lord. Whether it's self, whether it's mammon, whether it's base things, whether it's so-called good things. The answer is always and forever.
Look unto Jesus.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your Holy Word, and we thank you, God, that you have saved us from our sins. And we confess our proneness to wander, and we pray that you would just help us to constantly look to the cross of our Lord Jesus, to constantly look to Him who gave His life for us, that we might enjoy everlasting life. I just pray now for my brothers and sisters.
I pray that what has been confusing in this message would be sorted out by your spirit and that we would reflect upon these texts, that we would consider this idea that what we revere, we resemble either for ruin or restoration. And God, we genuinely want to be restored. We want to come be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray.
Amen.