The Futility Of Idolatry

God Centered Theology

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Isaiah chapter 44 if you want to be turning there because and it's interesting how the spirit works because our

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Sunday school lesson has a lot to do with the topic before us this morning of idolatry When Mary taught us this morning they were looking at Paul and The issues they were having because it had some meat sacrificed idols and they didn't want to be

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Eating that and stuff. She had a lot of issues that so that's a Different subject concerning idolatry than what we're dealing with but the the point being the idolatry rears its ugly head

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Quite a bit in the scriptures and if you pay attention to our world today Idolatry rears its ugly head in our world quite too often and we need not be hypocritical or prideful or lack self -awareness that even we as Christians are very

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Susceptible to idol worship. You have to be careful in our home we talk about this a lot because you know, whether it's

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Gina and I talking or whether Hannah's talking about different things. She likes to do we say well, you know, you're involved in this and this and that's good

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But you know it's important to recognize if you're doing something and You're really not enjoying it or you don't really feel like it's something you really want to do and you're just kind of doing it to go through the motions or You know because you feel like you have to that's no way to be, you know you have to have good balance the stuff, but what usually happens is if somebody puts in an ordinate amount of emphasis on something if they get really out of balance and Have something in their life that's just put in a place where it shouldn't be it can be it can become an idol

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One of the hard things for a lot of young parents I guess this can affect really any age of parents, but I know with young parents a lot

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You could be very difficult to not turn your children into idols. We see a lot of I know

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I've Known parents either closely or from afar I'll see things and they'll have one or more children.

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It seems like they're always going to some game We're always going something or you know, they might as well just have a big shrine in their home to their child

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I'm like look You need to love your children I mean nothing makes me happier than to see

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Hannah succeed and do well and enjoy things in life. That's great They've got to have balance to things You know, you've got to be in balance, you know, you can make your spouse an idol your job can be an idol

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It's okay to love a job. It's okay to appreciate it. But if you become Lifted up where it shouldn't be and the key is

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Whether it's a job whether it's a family member Your car some people could take a car a truck and make it an idol

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I mean your hobbies There's a whole host of things But the foundational issue is anything

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No matter what it is whether it's a person place a thing a ritual tradition, whatever it is if It is made to be equal to or above the place of God in your life

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It's become an idol and there's a reason why God spends so much time

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Talking about how he hates pride and how he doesn't like idol worship It's not just that idol worship shows up in Scripture a lot because people are naturally

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Sinfully idol worshipers is because God wants to drill the point home that you should not be worshiping anything other than me

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There's only one true God. There's only one Being one

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God that is worthy of the worship of his creation and So that's the starting place.

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I am in Isaiah chapter 44 We see a great example of God Declaratively stating that he is

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God. There's no one beside him He alone is worthy of all worship.

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And then we see a great example of the sheer futility and Nonsense and really just Sort of an almost in a comedic way.

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We see how idol worship is just plain silly and yet we still find

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Our world engaging in it. So let's look here Isaiah chapter 44 in verse 1 it says but now here

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Oh Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen Thus says the

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Lord who made you and formed you from the womb who will help you And notice right away

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It is establishing That God is the creator There is no other creator.

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There is no other source of life. There is no no other source of Creation.

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This is not a random accident. We did not just come to be we're not a cosmic accident

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We're not just you know bags of mostly gas and air we were created for a purpose

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It says the Lord who made you Now he's talking here to The people of Israel and so he's talking in a sense in a collective sense

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So when he says made you he's sort of retaught referring to all of you, but you can also apply this individually

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We see this in Jeremiah the first chapter where Jeremiah talks about how even before he was formed in the womb

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God knew him So you see this language in Scripture about the intimate knowledge that God has with every single person

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He creates for a purpose for his purposes and for his glory. So he formed them from the womb

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Meaning he has sovereign control over every aspect of your life Even before you come out of the womb and take your first breath.

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God is sovereign over your creation He says do not fear Oh Jacob my servant and you

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Jeshurun whom I have chosen for I will pour out water on the thirsty ground and streams on the dry land

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I will pour out my spirit on your seed and my blessing on your offspring and This would be a sermon for another day.

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But just in passing we've got a great prophecy here Looking forward to the time when

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Christ would die for sins and then he would go back and ascend to the father He would send the comforter send the

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Spirit of God, which would come at Pentecost and now and dwells all believers So this seed which were told in New Testament the true seed of Abraham is is is

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Israel and true Israel spiritual Israel those that has Been raised to life by the father who placed their faith in Christ So the

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Spirit of God is poured out and it dwells the believers He says my blessing on your offspring and they will spring up among the grass

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Like populars by stream of water This one will say I am Yahweh's and this one will call in the name of Jacob and this one will write on his hand

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Belonging to Yahweh and will name Israel's name with honor so it's saying there's coming a day where you will see the people of God not just indwelt by the

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Spirit of God, but Very boldly and publicly stating that they belong to the

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Lord So then the focus changes here and we're reminded just who

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God really is It says thus says the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the

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Lord of hosts He says I am the first and the last Notice the similar language

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Because we have the Lord the King of Israel it says and his

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Redeemer all throughout the book of Isaiah We learn of and we are told about the suffering servant that will come

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There's language about how God says my servant my Redeemer that will come so much prophecy about Jesus and in the right here

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We have it said of both God and this Redeemer That they are

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Yahweh or the Lord of hosts so any atheists any person that would claim what

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Scripture really doesn't teach that Jesus was God You know, well

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Actually kind of does I always hear the thing. Well, he Jesus didn't actually say he was

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God. I'm like people put Certain qualifications on things that they demand well, they they people want it to be found in Scripture that Jesus said and I quote

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I am God Well doesn't say it specifically like that But even if it did they still wouldn't believe but it's very clear in John 8 when he says you love

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Abraham so much Well before Abraham was I am Then they pick up stones and want to stone stone him all throughout

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John Chapter 6 specifically talks about how he's the bread of life come down from heaven

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He's the light of the world. I and the Father are one Jesus makes it abundantly clear that he is the he is

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Yahweh He is God, but people are gonna believe what they want to believe this that the other but here's a section right here

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It makes it very clear that Yahweh God the King of Israel is the Yahweh the

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Lord of hosts But also that his Redeemer This Redeemer of God is the

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Lord and knows he says I am the first and the last member in book revelation

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Jesus Christ says I am the Alpha and the Omega I am the beginning in the end the first and last so Jesus very plainly

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Claims that deity It says there is no God besides me

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Who is like me? Let him call out and declare it let him tell it to me in order from the time that I established the ancient people

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So God is saying if you want to be on par with me Whatever God it is that you want to worship whatever.

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I know it is You want to worship whoever it is that's claiming to be God or whatever you have your little wooden idol or your golden idol or this

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Man that you worship or whoever it is. Okay, you want to claim your God tell me

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How did the creation go? How did all these things get set up?

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How is it that there was? these people that were Risen up and brought down Tell it to me in order

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See, it's one thing for us to be able to access history or historical books and read

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Some portion or some level of understanding of what may have happened in the past but the intimate detailed knowledge that God has of How people came about?

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Who they were? Where they came from why they showed up when they did what happened to them all these detailed records

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He says tell to me But do it in order Don't just say well,

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I think there was this people about this time about that. No give it to me in order From the time that I established these ancient people let them referring to these so -called gods

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Declare to them the things that are to come and the events that are going to take place So God says, okay, you're

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God tell me what's coming in the future Okay, first he says tell me about the past and Of course they wouldn't be able to do it but just it just you know

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Let's just say someone had some type of crazy encyclopedic knowledge of the past. Okay.

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Tell me about the future Tell me what's coming Tell me about the things that are come that are to come the events that are going to take place

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What is the one biggest truth that we know about the about the world in which we live in?

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What does people say all the time? Nobody knows the future, right? I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow.

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I don't know what's gonna happen the next day We we say in a very cliched way. We don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but we know who holds tomorrow

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Don't we I don't know. It's I mean tomorrow we could wake up and something complete. I mean you think about 9 -eleven

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I remember when everybody woke up that day. You didn't expect something like that to happen. We don't know God does because he's sovereign over all of it

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He planned it he decreed it everything that scripture talks about everything that happens in time and space is under the decree of God for the glory of God So he says declare it tell me

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Because if you can't You're not God. You're not the sovereign over creation. You're not the one that created it.

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You're not the one that planned it You're not the one that plans these peoples and these nations and these things and know what's coming

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It says do not be a verse a do not be in dread or do not be afraid

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Have I not long since caused it to be heard to you and declared it and you are my witnesses the people of God which specifically at this time you're speaking to Israel and Tell him you're my witnesses

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Think about everything that's wrapped up in that statement How often the book of Deuteronomy are the people reminded don't forget

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I'm Lord your God that led you out of Israel All right, excuse me led you out of Egypt Helped you cross the sea unharmed

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Provide you manna in the wilderness Don't think for a second that it was someone else

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They're reminded of this over and over in the pages of Deuteronomy and their witnesses because they're the ones that pin scripture

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Their witnesses because they're the ones if you think about New Testament writers the one that witnessed the living

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Christ Which is why he reminds them in Acts chapter 1 before he ascends back into heaven

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He says you shall be my witnesses Both here and in Judea Samaria and all the parts of the world

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Notice the consistency in language He's telling his people here you're my witnesses

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That I'm God that I'm the one true God and how often throughout Old Testament scripture do we see testimonies to this we think of in the book of Daniel with the three that wouldn't bow to Nebuchadnezzar statue or put in the fire and they talked about how we can only serve the one true

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God and as a result of What occurs Nebuchadnezzar himself comes to say I believe in the one true

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God of Israel So often through Old Testament we see this witness and this testimony that there is the one true

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God Here O Israel our God is one and shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and then in the

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New Testament the same language is repeated by Christ himself who is God before he ascends.

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He says you're gonna be now my witnesses That I am

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God that I am the resurrected Christ That the new covenant is in my blood and then in a rhetorical sense here in verse 8

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God asked is there any God besides me? or is there any other rock and then just sort of like a

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Declarative dropping the gauntlet if you will Just sort of summary fashion

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Sort of in a declarative way to make his point as clear as he can

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God says I know of none None and based on everything

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God has just said here He would be the only one that would know if there's another

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God He's the one that created everything without him. There would be nothing and we and think about it this creative creator language is

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Attributed to Jesus Christ in the first chapter of the Gospel of John that says he was the in the beginning with God He is

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God Everything that's came into being would not have come into being if it were not for Jesus Christ So yes, the scriptures is very clear on the deity of Christ But also it's interesting that this creator this one that has

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Sovereignly controlled everything From the day Adam took his first breath up until now what's coming in the future?

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he would be the only one that would know if there's another God and This one true.

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God is saying I know of none So that's where we start with this

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Isaiah 44 lays it out So before you go any further

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Before there's even a need to even discuss the futility of idol worship

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We have everything we need right here Once you've established that there is only one true

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God once you have established that there is one God one King You one Yahweh one that is created one that is set in the stone everything that has come and everything that will be

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That there's no other rock. There's no other God Well, then it should naturally follow they shouldn't be worshiping anything else equal to or above this

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God and And yet That's what man does doesn't it verse 9 through 20 of this chapter is

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Serious for sure But in a sense there's some comedy here

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Because in comparison to what was just said about how great God is We now see in sort of somewhat comedic fashion

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The futility of worshiping anything else verse 9 says those who form a graven image are all of them

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Futile or an idol and Their desirable things are of no profit

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Even their own witnesses fail to see or know So that they will be put to shame

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Notice the utilization of the languages that is attributed to the witnesses of God He's saying your idols the ones that witness to these idols that say this is our

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God Think about excess right when they had the whole golden calf deal They say hey go make for us this golden calf and if they bring it before the people and said this is your

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God This is who brought you out of Egypt. This is the one that's done all these things for you

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Textbook Idolatry to take anything created and put it in the place of the

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Creator So anyone that would witness and say well, this here is our

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God They fail to see or know They will be put to shame

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Every idol was futile verse 10 who is formed a

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God or Cast a graven image to no profit Behold all his companions will be put to shame

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The craftsmen themselves are mere men So right away even the craftsmen themselves those that are doing the actual work of carving or fashioning the idol

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Creating something if you will There's a difference between them and the one true

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God. They're just mere men They had to rely on the Creator for their existence

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They cannot create everything out of nothing as God did Verse 10 verse 11 carries on says let them the these craftsmen all assemble themselves

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Let them stand up. Let them be in dread. Let them together be put to shame

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The man crafts iron and a cutting tool He does his work over the coals

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Forming it or forming the idol with hammers Working it with his powerful arm

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Okay, I can't help but sense a bit of sarcasm in these words because clearly while yes

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It would take some level of strength to be able to craft certain things. We've got God talking about this

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You know these so -called craftsmen. They're just mere men and look at them crafting the little idols

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Oh, look at them using their little powerful arms to mold and form their little graven images

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I almost sense a little bit of divine sarcasm going on here He also gets hungry and has no power he drinks no water and becomes weary all

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The poor little idol carver the poor little idol molder

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He's gotten hungry. He's worked so hard on this little idol and he's just run himself weary He needs food and water poor little idol maker

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Verse 13 another crafts would He extends a measuring line.

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He outlines it with a stylus Notice the level of detail Notice the level of care being given by this

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Hypothetical situation Obviously here in these words, but certainly describing things that had happened in real life these

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Idol worshippers these idol crafters would spend so much time and effort

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Not just crafting and molding dials but planning the idols

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Because notice it says they craft the wood they extend a measuring line

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So they're measuring twice and cutting once right which is the way we're supposed to do it measure twice

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Cut once so they don't cut wrong They're outlining with it with a stylus red.

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This is word means red chalk So they would measure out places. They were going to cut and make their marks just like we would

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So they can just haphazardly take a piece of wood chop some stuff off and like oh, hey, here's idle

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No, they took quite care with this. They wanted it to look good to have depth and value and they

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Wanted to decide how long it should be how tall it should be how it should look There's a lot of thought and planning going into this you ever make a statement when you when you see these documentaries or you see these stories about criminals and How they're you know,

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I think about The Abagnale guy the check fraud guy and how he spent so much effort into coming up with fake checks and You know defrauding the government defrauding banks and he ends up going on working for the

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FBI And I'm saying you always say these things about these criminals. They're so smart They're so intelligent

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They clearly have work ethic It's just misapplied if they just apply themselves to something good and legal they can make money

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They can they can acquire these things that they think they have to do crime to acquire

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Same basic concept is here if Man would just apply himself to study the true

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God who's available Who's real? Study him serve him worship him

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Then they wouldn't have all this sin Wouldn't have all this idolatry But no man will go out of his way and put all this effort into something

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That he had to rely on God to create the materials for him to then take and measure and craft after Verse 13 carries on he makes it with planes and outlines with compass and makes it like the form of a man

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Like the glory of a man so that may sit in a house. I Mean just as the sheer and utter stupidity and Arrogance of the idol maker that he in some cases

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They would make idols that would look like a man so that they could put it in their house and worship that Say well, is that You know, what that would be a common equivalent

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Well people have all kinds of things in their house that you know They can potentially put too much emphasis on or worship

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Like we said, you know between hobbies work spouse on there's a whole number of ways of doing it This was one way they did it back then

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So in other words And this is why I like verse 13 when it talks about how he makes it

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The form of a man like the glory of a man that it may sit in a house Ultimately all idol worship is is about worshiping the creature rather than the

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Creator it's about worshiping man rather than God and Nowhere else is this more apparent than when a man's idol looks like a man

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And worships man you say well, you know that that really doesn't happen does it? I mean look at look and study the cults

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All the cults that are in existence There's always that one central man or central leader that has such a hold and a power for people

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Idol worship takes on many many ways verse 14 in order to cut cedars for himself

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He takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest He plants a fur and the rain makes it grow notice this

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Now it's it's getting into sort of The process by how this comes about so in order to cut cedars for himself

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He would go out and have a specific tree This is how depraved the idolatrous heart is

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He wants to go out and grow this tree for no other reason but to eventually make an idol out of it But notice it says he takes a cypress this oak.

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He raises it grows it but notice it says the rain makes it grow

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Man can't even grow his own tree To make his idols without relying on the one true

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God to bring the rain To make his tree grow so he can in turn cut said tree down and turn it into an idol

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This is the thing that Boggles our minds right when we think about the unsaved we think about those that you see him

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He's like how they not get it. How can they not see? well

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Clearly the depraved sinful heart isn't going to see doesn't want to see

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Doesn't even recognize that while it's engaging in its idol worship not any gotten to the point of worshiping the idol

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We're still planning it processing and growing it. It's still relying on God To have it stuff

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Think about the grace and mercy of God how he allows that tree to be grown God knowing what that man's going to use that tree for Says then it becomes verse faith 15 something for a man to burn so he takes one of them and warms himself

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So he's taking a tree that God grew to warm himself He also candles a fire to bake bread

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He also works to produce a God and worships it He makes it a graven image and falls down before it.

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So he's got at least one tree Maybe more than one He takes one to use to make fire to warm himself.

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He takes part of it to make a fire to cook food And then of course he takes part of it to make a graven image so that he can bow down before it

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Think of the irony of bowing down to something worshiping something

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That you could not even produce by your own might you say well, yes he had to use

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Effort to cut it down and form all these things Using all materials

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Using things that he had rely on God to create verse 16 half of it burns in the fire over this half he eats the meat as He roasts a roast that is satisfied.

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He also warms himself and says aha I am warm. I have seen the fire sheer arrogance of man relying on the good graces and the good gifts of God and Thinking that you produce this or you somehow made it on your own.

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That is one of the Sad realities of idol worship

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That man would look at the work of his own hands and look see look what I've done Aha I'm warm.

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I have seen the fire. I made this I produced this It's been my effort.

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Look at these great things. I've done No, look at the great things God has done.

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Look at the ability and power. He's given us to be able to do these things verse 17 the rest of it he makes into a

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God his graven image, so more comedy here He cares so much about his idol right he measured it outlined it planned it

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He uses the leftovers to make the graven image He doesn't even take he doesn't even have enough care for this idol this

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God this graven image to take the tree and take the best parts of the tree and Start by making the idol or crafted the idol.

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No, he took the parts He wanted to warm himself to feed himself and then he'll take what's left over and now make me a little idol

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You know why? Because this man in this text is worshiping himself

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It's not about the graven image. It's not about what the idol represents It's not about all these different things

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Ultimately, it's the man worshiping himself. I've made the fire that's made me warm.

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I've made the Fire that's cooked me this food Okay, now I'll go and make me a little idol

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So I can at least pretend that I'm worshiping something other than myself The rest of it.

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He makes it to a God his graven image. He falls down before and worships. He also Prays to it and says deliver me for you or my

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God They do not know nor do they understand for he has smeared over their eyes

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So they cannot see in their hearts, so they will not have insight If not for the grace and mercy of God in the human heart

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Taking out the heart of stone putting in a heart of flesh Raising them to spiritual life giving them spiritual eyes to see

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Uncovering that smear of sin that blinds us. No flesh would be saved

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We are saved by the grace and mercy of God For it knows the verse 19. No one causes this to return to his heart

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Nor is there knowledge or understanding to say I have burned half of it on the fire.

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I Also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it then

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I make the rest into an abomination. I And this is by far the funniest part of this whole passage.

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I fall down before a block of wood Think about what's being said here

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No one's around to cause this poor soul to think about what he's doing You've burned half of your tree in the fire

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You've used some of it for making food and the rest of it you've made into a literal abomination so that you can literally fall down before wood a

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Block of wood that block of wood did nothing that block of wood didn't send the rain that made the tree grow

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That block of wood didn't give life to that tree That block of wood didn't create the earth and its atmosphere and all the things in nature that are required for that tree to grow that block of wood didn't create you and gave you knowledge and physical strength to be able to take that tree and Cut it into all the different things you needed that Idol didn't give you the ability to know how to make fire.

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It didn't give you fire itself The meat you got I'm assuming it was from some animal that I don't didn't create that animal

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I mean we could go on and on and on on the totality of this entire passage

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Every step of the way as this person is going from point A to point B of planning to now having an idol

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Every single bit of it. This person doesn't recognize he owes every bit of it to God not only include up to including his very existence

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That's what verse 19 is saying here. No one can cause this or cause this thought or It's saying no one is able to cause this idol maker to stop and consider thus

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And this is the the quote here in verse 19 is sort of a rhetorical thing. This is what the idol crafter should be thinking, huh?

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I've burned half of it in the fire I've also baked bread over its coals

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I roast meat and ate it. Hmm, then I made the rest of it into an abomination

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I'm falling down before a block of wood he feeds on ashes a deceived heart

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Has turned him beside my friends. That's what it comes down to I love the progression of this passage from verse 9 to 20 here talk about the futility of Idolatry because it wraps it up in verse 20 in the most perfect way at the heart of the matter

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I keep telling y 'all don't like cliches and here I keep spewing them out of my mouth at the heart of the matter

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It's a matter of the heart. You know, how many times we say that little sayings and stuff That's it's what we're dealing with here at the heart of the matter

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It's a matter of the heart and it's a deceived heart that worships anything other than Yahweh Because he says you are my witnesses.

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Is there any God beside me any other rock? I know of none and Only a deceived heart would worship anything other than that one true

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God But notice it takes it further as we wrap up here this morning as we study this this this idol maker

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Not only does he have a deceived heart that's turned him aside from God to blocks of wood

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It says he meaning the idol maker Cannot deliver his soul

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Now we're not going to go into it because time will not permit us this morning because we're looking to wrap up here in Just a minute

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But I encourage you to read the rest of this chapter starting in verse 21 because it goes on to talk about How it is

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Yahweh it is that same Lord that at the beginning of the chapter he established

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He's the only God we turn back in verse 21 looking at the same Yahweh where it talks about there is only

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God who forgives and redeems Which is coming on the hinges of verse 20 where it says this person that's made this idol

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Cannot deliver his soul and he cannot say is there not a lie in my right hand

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So the one that turns to his own devices his own idols Thinking that they would save him cannot deliver his soul only

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Yahweh Can deliver only Yahweh the Lord can forgive and only