The Direction Of Drift - [1 Corinthians 10:6-8]

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Worship to Thee, springing to life, and worship to Thee when born.
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Worship the cow, to Thy tail hair and to Thy hooves, and to Thy form, by whom the heaven, by whom the earth, by whom these waters are preserved.
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Worship the cow. Forth from Thy mouth the songs came.
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From Thy neck's nape sprang strength, O cow. Sacrifice from Thy flanks was born, and rays of sunlight from Thy bosom.
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From Thy forequarters motion was generated, cow. Food from Thine entrails was produced, and from Thy belly came the plants.
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Call the cow immortal life. Pay homage to the cow as death. She hath become this universe, fathers.
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Hath become the gods, men, and spirits. The man who hath this knowledge may receive the cow with welcoming.
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So for the giver willingly doth perfect sacrifice, and pour milk.
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The cow is heaven. The cow is earth. The cow is Vishnu, Lord of life.
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The heavenly beings have drunk the outpourings of the cow. When these heavenly beings have drunk the outpourings of the cow, they in the bright one's dwelling place pay adoration to her milk.
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Worship the cow. You should see your faces right now. You should see your faces right now.
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This true prayer causes us to say, who could do something like that?
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That's gross. It's crazy. I mean, when I was in 4 -H and I would see the cows at the fair,
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I would look into their eyes and see their eyelashes and think, how could I ever have a steak? Until later, then
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I would think, alright. I can do it. When I see cow, I don't see
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God. I don't revere her and bow down to her. Sad that she has to go, but to God be the glory when it comes to steak.
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When you see someone else do something wrong or sinful, it's easy to spot. It's easy to have disgust, disdain, pity, whatever it might be.
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But it's kind of hard to see it in ourselves. And it's interesting with this topic today.
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The topic of idolatry. We think people bowing down to images or bowing down to a cow or any other created thing, we think that's bad and we think that's wrong.
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But for our society today, do we in fact not struggle with idolatry? Power. Money.
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Success. Career. Sex. Self. Calvin was right.
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Our hearts are like a perpetual idol -making factory.
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So what do we do? Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 as we work our way through 1
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Corinthians verse by verse. Actually, let's go to chapter 9 to catch ourselves up to where we are now.
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Paul is basically saying this to the church of Corinth. You are a blessed group of people. I can say it to Bethlehem Bible Church.
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You are a blessed group of people. Supernatural blessings graciously given by God.
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Not earned, not deserved. The God of the universe has blessed us.
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And because of that blessing, our response should be gratitude, obedience.
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And our response should not be, well, you know what? Now that we are forgiven, let's see how far we can go.
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Let's see how far we can push the limit. Let's get up to the edge of the precipice of this is do not touch, do not transgress, do not trespass, and let's just see how far we can go.
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I remember when our kids were little, they were not allowed to go in the kitchen. And so there was the living area, the dining room, and the kitchen they were not allowed to go to.
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And there's a little divider there between the kitchen tile and the other rooms, the dining room and living room.
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And those kids, they knew that if they touched that kitchen floor, they were going to get time out.
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No, they were going to get disciplined. And they would go right up to that as close as they could.
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They could even wave their hand over it just so close. Look at how close I could get.
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That's what children do. That's not what adults do. That's not what mature people do.
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We are blessed. And you know what? If you're a Christian, nothing you do can make you lose your salvation.
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Because God caused your salvation. You can't lose your salvation because God can't lose a
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Christian. Christ can't lose a Christian. Once you're forgiven, you are completely forgiven.
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But with that knowledge, we don't want to say, therefore let sin, may it never be.
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With that knowledge, then we want to honor God with the liberties we have. And that's what's happening in chapter 8, 9 and 10 of 1
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Corinthians. Chapter 8, we have liberties. We are free in Christ. We got a little of that from Galatians 5 today as well.
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We're free in Christ. No longer under the law. Keeping the law to try to make
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God pleased with us. Christ did that in our place. But because of love, we can say no to our rights.
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Say no to our liberties. And so Paul does that in chapter 9. And at the end of chapter 9, he talks about running the
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Christian race well. To run well. We've been saved.
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Run well. We've been baptized. Run well. We've been taught well. Run well. You lack no good thing.
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Run well. And look at Paul's example. Chapter 9, verse 24.
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You can just feel the sweat. You can just see the muscles here bulge out as Paul is running.
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Of course, figuratively running the Christian life. Chapter 9, verse 24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?
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So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self -control in all things.
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They do it for a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly.
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I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others,
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I myself should be disqualified. And then speaking of disqualification,
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Israel was DQ'd in the race. Verse 1 of chapter 10. They're tied together at the end of 9 and the beginning of 10.
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For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. See, they all had these spiritual, temporal rather, blessings, temporal redemption, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.
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For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most, all, all, all, all, all, but nevertheless, with most of them,
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God was not pleased. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire or crave or hanker for evil as they did.
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And now we move to our passage today, chapter 10, verses 7 through 11. See if you can spot these four sins to avoid.
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People who think they're strong. People who think they're strong in Christ. They have lots of liberties that they can engage in.
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Look at the four sins that people who think they have a lot of liberty can easily fall into.
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Can you spot the four? Do not be idolaters as some of them were.
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As it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did.
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And 23 ,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents.
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Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.
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Now these things happened to them as an example. But they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.
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Did you spot those four? Four sins that people who have a liberty in Christ and who like to push it could easily fall into.
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Do you see the four? Idolatry, verse 7. Sexual immorality, verse 8.
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Putting Christ to the test, verse 9. And grumbling or complaining, verse 10.
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Paul says, you know, when you have freedom in Christ, when you can say, you know what, whether I eat or drink anything, whether I do anything, whether I act a certain way,
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I can still fall into sins, and so take heed lest you fall, is
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Paul's point. Flaunting liberties is hazardous.
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So let's look at the first one today. I don't know how much farther we're going to get. Probably just this first sin to avoid.
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In light of your deliverance, not from Egypt, but spiritually, how then do we live?
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The first sin for you to avoid, especially knowing that you have these great redemptive blessings, is number one, do not be an idolater.
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Do not be an idolater. Look at verse 5 and 6 again, because I didn't talk about this much last week, this segue between our last section and this section, but I think you'll find it interesting.
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Look at verse 5 and 6. Let me read those again. Nevertheless, with most of them. Boy, that's an understatement.
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Two million people in the desert, and out of all the adults, let's say a million of them are adults, they're all cut down except for two.
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With most of them, God was not pleased. Matter of fact, with all of them,
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God was angry, except for Caleb and Joshua and those under 20. So he flips this whole thing around.
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It's almost like the opposite. With all of them, God was angry. He was upset.
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But the way Paul writes it is a very fascinating way. With most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
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People have done some calculation. You'll find this interesting. After this happened, about 38 years left in the wilderness, we know from the
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Bible 600 ,000 males were in the wilderness. So let's just say there are 600 ,000 females, and they were all cut down except for two.
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38 years, 1 .2 million people. How many funerals is that a day? Calculate how long does it take, how many does it take to have 1 .2
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million people die in 38 years? 90 funerals a day on average.
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90 people a day die. And they were laid low. They were overthrown in the wilderness.
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God was not happy. I haven't done 90 funerals in 15 years. Coming up on 15 years of Gospel ministry,
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I haven't done 90 total. Can you imagine how they were just corpses littered through the wilderness?
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90 a day. That's amazing. A daily reminder 90 times a day.
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God was angry. God was not pleased. They were blessed.
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They were just taken out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God through the Red Sea, and they go into the wilderness, and they become idolaters.
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They become sexually immoral. They put God to the test, and then they grumble, and God cut them down.
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90 a day. So what is Paul trying to do? Paul is trying to say, learn from the
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Israelites. Don't do the same thing. Oh, that could never happen to me. Well, if you say that, then this message is especially for you.
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Oh, I never grumble. I never have something vying for my affections.
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I never look at anyone with lust. No, these are so practical.
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They're for our own good. God with an understatement says, I'm not well pleased with any of those people.
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You enjoyed my favor, but you were not pleased, so take heed. Now some of you might be saying, wait a second, can
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I lose my salvation? As I said last week, and the week before, I'll say it again now. Moses. Will you see
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Moses in heaven? I think so. After about a billion years of worshiping
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Jesus, I'll say, hey Moses, what's up? No. You will see
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Moses. You'll see him in Hebrews 11. It says, by faith, Moses, he is in heaven, worshiping
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Jesus the Lamb. But was Moses cut off in the wilderness, and did he get to the promised land?
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He was cut off. He didn't get to the promised land. So we're talking here about people who have eternal security, yet don't run well, and God cuts them off.
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Don't you want to run well for the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely. And so Paul is saying,
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Moses of course was redeemed. He was a believer. He was justified by faith alone in the
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Messiah to come. But he was cut off. So Corinthians, you are saved, you're secured, you're called by Christ, you're sealed by the
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Spirit of God, you can't lose what you didn't gain, salvation. But in light of that, run well.
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It's not lay back and let God. It's God saved you, so run for Him. I mean, if we'll see runners at the
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Olympics, they run with strength and training and diligence and fortitude for a country, and for the applause of a country.
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Shouldn't we do much more for the Lord Jesus Christ in light of our salvation? The risen
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King deserves it. So Paul says
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Israel is a great example. And that's why we want to study our Old Testament and read the accounts there.
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They're examples. Do you see verse 10? Now these things took place as examples. The text really says as types.
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That's all a type is. Nothing technical about a type. It just means an example that we might not desire evil as they did.
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This reminds me of Romans 15. Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.
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So that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.
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So here's the message. Israel craved sex. They craved illicit sex.
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They craved idolatry. They grumbled. And so Paul says, learn from them and don't do it.
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So let's get back to verse 7. Our first, and probably only one today, the first sin to avoid, knowing all the blessings you have in Christ Jesus, do not become an idolater.
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Verse 7. I'm just using the language of the text where I have some alliteration when this will help us remember,
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I think, better. Do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written. Now where's this quote from?
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Where's he quoting this from? The people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. What's that from?
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When you read that, NAS shows it all capital. So you say, oh, that's an Old Testament quote. But even as you read it, where is this coming from?
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Exodus chapter 32. The golden calf. And when you read this passage here, the people sat down to eat and to drink and stood up to play.
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This is not like kind of Thanksgiving where everybody sits down to eat and then they stand up and then the kids go outside to play.
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What kind of language is this? This is, and I thought to myself, do
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I dare say the word? But it was in Galatians 5 and Pardeep read the word today and so I'll say the word because it's a biblical word and it's a gross word.
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This is a euphemism for a sexual orgy. That's what it is.
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They indulge in idolatry and then from idolatry is a horrible, filthy, unmentionable act in Exodus 32.
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Why don't we turn there and figure out what's going on. They were engaging in idolatry which is deadly and Paul records what happens after the idolatry.
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Let's go to Exodus chapter 32 and see what's happening here. This is one of the most interesting chapters.
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By the way, if you were in Bible college and I said, what's one of the key chapters in the Old Testament?
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You should say Exodus 32. There are many, but 32 is what you should know for sure.
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We had a professor in seminary and you could just say any chapter of the Bible, Ezekiel 23, and he would know what was in Ezekiel 23.
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I wonder, could you do that? If I said to you Galatians 6, what's in Galatians 6? Leviticus 16,
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Genesis chapter 1. How about Exodus 32? Well, today you've got Exodus 32. I don't know how many chapters there are left in the
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Old Testament but we've got time. Exodus 32, the golden calf, the golden calf.
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All right, here's one thing that you have to know about Exodus 32 to make sure you understand what's going on.
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Exodus 32 is hooked to the last part of Exodus 24 chronologically.
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Let me read you Exodus 24, 18. And Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain and Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.
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And he was receiving the blueprints to the tabernacle. Chapter 25 all the way through chapter 31.
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Even 35 and 40 do the same thing. So here's the scoop. Chronologically, Moses goes up to the mountain and now this is what's happening below the mountain.
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You can't say to yourself, well, now Moses is up on the mountain. Chapter 24 and chapter 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 all kinds of other historical stuff is going on.
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No, the stuff in the middle is what God is telling Moses here. So plans for the tabernacle here and now on earth down below plans for the calf.
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When you get that right, you're going to see this evil congruence like Bernard Ram called it's so evil things are so out of order it's like a rape at a wedding.
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Something's wrong. God's giving the plans for the tabernacle and how He the Holy God wants to be worshipped in holy array and down below it's orgyville.
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That's what's going on here in the mind of the author and Paul uses that because this is just as crazy as it could get.
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Two greater opposites. A plus and a minus. Negative, positive. It's just crazy.
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It's like one man said clowns that show up at a funeral. Exodus 32.
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When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down. Remember, he's up there on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.
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They're getting, as my mother would say, ants in their pants. Restless. The people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him,
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Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
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He's dead in that fire. The fire came down and killed him. He's lost in the smoke. He's never coming down.
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God had told them in Exodus 24, Remain there. Now remember, this is all happening.
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The people gather themselves together. They come to Aaron and just in the background is the mountain. It's the glory of God on the mountain.
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That's the backdrop. Make us a
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God. Actually, here's what's happening. They want a representation of Yahweh. They're not making some cow
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God, some kind of Vishnu God. They're making Yahweh, but they're making Yahweh in the image of a cow.
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We need to see things. Seeing is believing after all, isn't it? Actually, I love 1
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Peter 1. Although you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you would greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
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You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
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You shall not worship them or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous
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God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate
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Me. Chapter 19, all the words which you have told us, we will do.
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Chapter 24, all of the words that you have told us, we will do. Later in chapter 24, all the words that you have told us, we will obey.
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And here Aaron is a horrible leader. He doesn't say stop, quit.
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And here these impatient people forget God. It's probably a good side lesson practically.
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Impatience often leads to sin. Where's her? Where are the elders? Verse 2, you know the passage.
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So Aaron said to them, let me give you the Hebrew sense. As fast as you can, rip the stuff out of your ears.
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Tear it off. Here it says, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters, and bring them to me.
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This is, you know what it's almost like? If we stop and think about it, we're going to quit. But if we just rush headlong, pell -mell into this frenzied like thing, we won't stop to think, you know,
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God doesn't like this. So rip the stuff off. Tear it off. Yank it out.
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And by the way, I think they had a lot of stuff because did they not in fact receive as a blessing from God?
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All the booty from Egypt. Remember they plundered them and gave them all their gold.
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And now the gift from God becomes what they used to make. So all the people, you can feel the pace, right?
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You can feel Hebrew pace. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He said, stop it.
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Repent. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it a golden calf.
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Worship the cow. These are your gods. It's probably this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
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He's not introducing a new god. This is the physical representation of Yahweh.
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And compromise is leading to more compromise. When Aaron saw this,
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I mean, this is just as bad as it can get. Listen, think through this. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.
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And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.
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That's the language of the Passover. We're going to have Passover feast kind of thing to this cow.
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Tomorrow it's a special feast day. This is kind of a weird twilight zone deal.
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And if you're younger, X -files. And if you're really young, I don't know what to tell you. This is
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Exodus 12 Passover language. Okay. We obey this at least.
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It's pretty easy to obey this one. Verse 6, they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
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And now we get the quote from Paul in 1 Corinthians 10. And the people sat down to drink, excuse me, sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
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A Hebrew lexicon tries to cloak the language of what play is and they call it conjugal caresses.
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And it's much too kind. They're worshiping the cow that's supposed to represent
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Yahweh with Sinai in the background and Aaron coaching them on.
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Aaron coaching them on. Now what's going on up on top of the mountain?
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And the Lord said to Moses, go down for your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
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That's language right from Genesis 6 .12. They've become corrupt. They've corrupted their way.
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They've turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They've made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it.
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And to make it worse, and sacrificed to it. And said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
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And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, it is a stiff necked people.
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Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation of you.
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I've said this before. It's like God saying, we're going to start over from scratch. They've all corrupted themselves and so we start over with Moses alone.
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If I was teaching kind of a council time at Awana, I would probably have a mountain and some people here on an echo sketch.
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You ever seen the echo sketches? And then how do you erase it? That's what
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God's saying. Let's start from scratch. It's a do -over. Wipe them out. He's done that before, by the way, in Genesis 6, 7, and 8.
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Wiped everybody out. And this is as good as Moses gets right here.
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The prayer of Moses. God, You've chosen Israel. He implored the
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Lord as God, verse 11 said, O Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
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God, You chose them. God, vindicate Your name, verse 12. Why should the
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Egyptians say, With evil intent did He bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?
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Turn from Your burning anger and relent from this disaster against Your people. God, You've made promises,
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Abrahamic covenant promises. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom
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You swore by Your own self and said to them, I will multiply Your offspring to stars of heaven and all this land that I have promised,
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I will give to Your offering, offspring rather, and they shall inherit it forever.
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Moses, verse 15, goes down the mountain with the testimony in his hand to a horde of two million people.
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The tablets, verse 16, were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise, remember when
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Moses went up, Joshua went part way to wait for Moses. When Joshua heard the noise, as they shouted, he said to Moses, This is the noise of war in the camp.
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Sounds like war. Have you ever heard a car crash? I've been in a couple of car crashes and that sound of metal just is, it'll make a memory, that's for sure.
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And then all of a sudden, how about the sound of war? How about the sound of war? That's what it sounds like.
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But he said, verse 18, It's not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of a cry of defeat, but the sound of singing
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I hear. They're drunk, committing immorality.
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It's loud. And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing,
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Moses' anger burned hot and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Not rebuked for this one.
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Not chastened for this one. I don't think that's sin at all. Throws the covenant law down and breaks it.
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Defenbaugh said, Imagine if you can, having the President of the United States taking the Declaration of Independence and the
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Constitution of the United States and tearing it up before the eyes of the nation on national
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TV. It took the calf, verse 20, that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
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Why drink it? Why pulverize it? Because these people are so sick and so gross that if it's not pulverized, they might try to find it later.
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It's crazy. And it gets worse. Moses said to Aaron, Why did this people do to you?
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What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them? You're to blame.
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Why don't you just do something about it? Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot. You know the people that they're set on evil.
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They said to me, Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has come of him.
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Moses, it's your fault. You didn't come down fast enough. Now, if you're not careful, you might miss this in verse 24.
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Aaron said to them, Let any who have gold take it off. So they gave it to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf.
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Now, anybody who laughs, they don't quite get it. I'm just kidding. I think this is what Aaron is saying.
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He's not saying, Oh, spontaneous combustion threw it in. Here's what he's saying. It was a supernatural miracle.
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It's as if Moses, we threw the stuff in, and miraculously, supernaturally, out comes this calf.
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It's a work of God Himself. J. Vernon McGee, in his typical southern way said,
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By the way, do you know J. Vernon McGee is dead? I just want to make sure you knew that. He was dead for 20 years before I knew it.
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Aaron tried to crawfish out of it all. It was a miracle.
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By the way, Deuteronomy 9 said that God was so angry at Aaron that He was ready to kill him. And when
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Moses saw, verse 25, that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies.
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They're running loose. They're running wild, casting off all restraints. Worship that's not precisely revealed by God, you can mark this, is never real worship no matter how sincere you are.
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Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who's on the Lord's side? Come to me. All the sons of Levi gathered around Him.
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Now, by the way, you're going to see the most interesting ordination exam you've ever seen in your life. Do you believe in ordination?
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I believe in ordination. But I bet this didn't happen to Steve for his ordination. And I know it didn't happen to mine 15 years ago.
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Is ordination biblical? Yes. And he said to them, Thus says the
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Lord God, verse 27 of Israel, Put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from the gate throughout the camp and answer all the theological questions the ordination board will ask you.
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No. Here's the ordination. And each of you, these
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Levites, kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor. Too severe, you might ask.
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Spiritual cancer is there. You cut it out. Excise it.
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And actually, this is a pretty small number of people killed. It's the mercy of God that more didn't die.
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Maybe it's just the ringleaders. The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about 3 ,000 men of the people fell.
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Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, verse 29, each one at the cost of his son and his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.
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Those people that were killed are the sacrifice for the sin that was committed by the whole.
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It was a dedicated sacrifice. Just another side note that I need to just put in for you to think about.
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Godliness does not need a majority. Can you imagine Moses? One man single -handedly turned back everyone.
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Verse 35, it says, Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made a calf the one Aaron had made.
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So let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 now that you know the scoop. For Paul, he says to the church of Corinth, they stood, they rose, and they played.
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That signaled everything to them. They knew Exodus 32. It was burned in their brain. It was tattooed in their mind.
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So he says, Don't become idolaters as some of them were. That was the root sin, idolatry, that people sat down to eat, drink, and rose up to play.
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And the technical way Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 10 .7 is, Stop doing this.
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Meaning some people were doing it. So here's what I'd like to do in the time we have left.
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I'd like to talk to you about idolatry in our day. Because you know what?
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I don't know if anybody here still bows down to some real God, some real carved image.
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But what is idolatry for us today? And is it a big deal?
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Tertullian said, The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment is idolatry.
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Now for Israel it was making something that represented God. And how could you make something that represents
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God when God is invisible? For Israel it was having one God maybe and then two gods.
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But if there's only one God in the universe, we believe in monotheism. How can that exist? But what about for us?
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It's not image carving. But it is giving undue honor and regard for someone or something in the place of God.
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Idolatry today for most Christians is to value something or someone in a way that hinders the love and trust we owe to God.
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Loving something more than, loving a good thing more than. And we want to run from that.
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J .C. Ryle said, Idolatry is a worship in which the honor due to the triune
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God and to God alone is given to some of His creatures or to some invention of His creatures.
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What do you think the number one idol is today? If you had to pick the number one idol today that people could struggle with, maybe it is power, maybe it is pleasure, maybe it is other people, money.
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But I'm thinking our biggest idol is ourselves. Fueled by self -esteem instead of esteem for the
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Lamb who was slain for us as sinners. I think this helps and it's a very scriptural concept.
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For us, here's the best way you can think of idolatry. It's to have a divided heart. When your heart is divided, no wonder in the
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Old Testament, it says things like this about the evil kings of Judah.
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They did not follow Yahweh with their whole what? Heart. No wonder
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Jesus says in the Great Commandment, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
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No wonder Josiah was called the good king. Why? Before him there was not a king like him who turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to the law of Moses.
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Nor did anyone arise after him. No wonder Jesus said, You cannot serve
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God and money at the same time. David Polison said,
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Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart's trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?
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It is a question bearing on the immediate motivation for one's behavior, thoughts and feelings.
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True or false? You are a worshiper. Everyone here in the room is a worshiper. True. It's just who is going to be the object of your worship?
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We all worship. God has set eternity in our heart. We will worship.
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I have a question I could ask you. What would you give anything to have? I'd give anything to have.
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My life would be so much better if I just had this. If I only had money.
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If I only had a husband. If I only had a wife. If I only had children.
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If I only had more money. If I only had a better pastor. Just kidding. Which one doesn't fit in?
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For you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
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God. Rightfully so. He made us. He owns us. He sent
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His Son to redeem us. What is the one thing your heart craves?
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What would change your life? If I only had this, my life would be changed. If I only had this,
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I could be content and have peace. One man said, what is the one thing that you mourn having to live without?
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What is the one thing that fills your daydreams and commands your sleepy meditations? What is your one thing?
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See, that's why if you worship God with all your heart, then you don't have any percentage of a heart to linger over here to the things that aren't
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God. And isn't it amazing when Paul in 1
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Corinthians 5 said, you know what? We don't even eat with idolaters. Idolaters do not inherit the kingdom of God.
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It's easy for us to say, oh, homosexuals don't inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Idolaters do not inherit the kingdom of God because they're loving something more than God.
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They're venerating something else. And people who worship idols in the
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Bible are called deceived, shamed, foolish, and they eventually imitate who they love, what they love.
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For you know this with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of God and Christ.
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How does 1 John end? I love you. I'm kind of your grandfather.
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Peace and grace to you. 1 John ends so strangely that some commentators think, that can't be the end.
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This cannot be the end. It's like Mark 16, verse 8. How can it be the end?
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It's too blunt. It's too crazy. Here's how 1 John ends. Maranatha, Lord come.
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No, little children, keep yourself from idols.
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And I like the way that's phrased too. Keep yourself from idols. It's a good prod because do you know what happens if we don't actively say no to these things?
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Then we just drift towards them. Well, we want to be known for what we're for. I'm going to go on record right now for once and for all at Bethlehem Bible Church No Compromise Radio Ministry.
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I am against idols. And I want to be known for an allegiance against idols. How about that?
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I want to be known what I'm against. Can you imagine the loving John? I'm against idols. D .A.
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Carson said this, people do not drift toward holiness apart from grace -driven effort.
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People do not gravitate towards godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture and delight in the Lord. We drift towards compromise and call it tolerance.
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We drift toward disobedience and call it freedom. We drift toward superstition and call it faith.
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We cherish the indiscipline of lost self -control and call it relaxation. We slouch towards prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism.
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We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
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Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Someone other than Christ Jesus who has taken the title deed to your heart.
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And when you see Jesus on the throne, the risen King, rightly, scripturally, then everything else fades.
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Everything else, you say, who else could I love? Who else could have top priority in my heart when
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I see who Jesus is and what He's done for me? How could I want anything more? J .C.
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Ryle said, Christ rightly known, Christ truly believed, and Christ heartily loved is the true preservative against ritualism,
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Romanism, and every form of idolatry. Psalm 106 says this of the
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Israelites in Exodus 32. I think it gives a good reminder for us.
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Psalm 106, they forgot God their Savior. They forgot God their Savior.
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It is a fact of life. Here's spiritual algebra for you. Spiritual math.
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That when you neglect the study of the Word of God, it is much easier to slip into all kinds of other things including idolatry, immorality, testing, and grumbling.
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I could flip it around. Show me someone who is dabbling with, indulged in, trifling with, sexual immorality, idolatry, not having a full allegiance to God, testing
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God, and grumbling. And I'll show you someone who is lax in their Bible study. It's like back in the old days.
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In counseling they would tell us when someone walks into the room, you don't say, how are you? You say, what have you been doing?
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Because if you've been doing the right things, I know how you are. Because if you do the right things, you feel the right way.
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And when you flood your mind with Scripture, it gets rid of all the other stuff. John Makarowski years ago taught the young boys at an overnight thing, plumbing.
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And he called it Plumbing University. And I listened to that discussion. I don't think he taught the
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Bible, but at least a little bit about plumbing. Just kidding. He made some allusions somewhere along the line.
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And he said, there's two things about plumbing that if you get these two things right, you'll understand plumbing.
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If he would have said 20, I would have just zoned out. Two things. I think I can get two.
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Gravity and displacement. Okay, now you've got plumbing. Gravity and displacement.
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You could be a good plumber. Leaving plumbing allusion to the side.
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Displacement. How do you get these brown leaves off these trees? Well, when the new leaves sprout out, the other ones just drop off.
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When I think about idolatry, I need to flood my mind with Scriptures. You say, well, you know what?
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I'm not going to do it, but I should. If I ask you how many people start off the day with reading your
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Bibles, I think we'd be shocked. Even at a Bible teaching church like this. Here's the good news.
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It's not too late to start. To read your mind. I like to have my mind fresh.
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Here's what I do. I bet you every single morning I read from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John before I read anything else because I want to see again the
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King who redeemed me. I was an enemy. He made me His friend. I want to see
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King Jesus in one of these Gospels because I used to be slave to sin and self and death and Satan and God's Son at Calvary redeemed me.
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I used to have the Holy Law of God just and true going to wrathfully punish me and Jesus was my substitute and took that in my place.
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And I like to study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John every day to start off with because I want to make sure
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I see the King lofty and say to myself this is a King worth living for.
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This is a King worth dying for. I don't want any other alternative to Jesus. That's basically what
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John is saying in 1 John 5, verse 21. Reading your Bible.
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After all, haven't we had enough of idolatry? Remember when you weren't a Christian? Weren't you just living it up in idolatry?
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Listen to what Peter says. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the
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Gentiles want to do. Didn't you live that enough in the past? Living in sensuality.
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Didn't you have enough of that? Passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
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When God saved us, He saved us from that. 1 Thessalonians 1 You turned from idols to God.
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Maybe you could diagnose yourself this way and then we need to wrap up. Here's a fact.
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You will serve whom you worship. The one whom you worship you will serve.
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So now ask yourself the question I serve money? I serve career? I serve getting ahead?
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I serve myself? Then a good chance is you are what? Worshiping yourself.
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Because worship and service go together. Worship and service. I worship the
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Lord Jesus Christ therefore I serve Him with all my heart and He says to serve others I want to gladly do that.
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But if my service is for money and fame and power and things and prestige or whatever else divides your heart then you say you know my worship is not right.
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And here's the good thing God loves repentance. God loves repentance. I'm not trying to beat you over the head.
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I'm trying to tell you single -mindedly focus on Christ Jesus and if you see His glory you won't have room for these other things.
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Can you imagine Christ Jesus on the cross? Earlier in the ministry of Christ Jesus remember the baptism?
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This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. Always pleasing the Father Christ was.
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Remember later the transfiguration? This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Listen to Him. And can you imagine at Calvary Jesus Christ excelling
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Himself in love. Excelling Himself in obedience.
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God the Father had manifested His pleasure on many other times before in eternity past always and then at the time when
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Jesus was excelling Himself the most in love. Greater love doesn't know anything better than what
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Jesus was doing when He was excelling Himself in love. God the Father what? Was silent.
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When Jesus' heart was exceedingly troubled in the garden the Father heard Him. But now when the
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Son is surpassing Himself in obedience, doing more than He ever would in His hour of need, going to bear the wrath of God in our place, no word except curse and abandonment.
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The Catechism says, at the cross He felt and bore the weight and the wrath of God. And the
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Father could not spare the Son because of the eternal plan of God, the
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Son dying in our place. And if He does that for us, I think then
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I want to live well, run well. And maybe what
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I'm going to start doing to myself is saying every time I try to have a divided heart it's like worshipping a worship the cow.
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That's not for me. Let's pray. Father, thank
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You for not sparing Your Son. Thank You for these words of instruction. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus numbers, these books, especially
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Exodus today, we don't want to be like the Israelites. They're an example of what not to do.
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Help us to fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to run away from idols.
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Father, help us to see Christ as He is and therefore we'll see everything else as only a means to the end.
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Money is not the end. Power is not the end. Career is not the end. These things are given to us so we can serve