Music
First stanza, down at the cross, first stanza, ready, sing.
Down at the cross, where the Savior died, Down where we're cleansing from sin I cry,
There to my heart was the blood of, everybody, glory to his name, glory to his name, glory to his name,
There to my heart was the blood of life, glory to his name, I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within, there at the cross where he took me, glory, glory to his name, glory to his name,
glory to his name, there to my heart was the blood of life, glory to his name, oh the third, oh precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in, there Jesus saves me and keeps me clean, glory to his name, glory to his name, glory to his name,
glory to his name, there to my heart was the blood of life, glory to his name, come to this, come to this I am so sweet and sweet,
cast out your soul to save your sleep, blush in today and be made complete, glory to his name, say bye bye, glory to his name, glory to his name,
there to my heart was the blood of life, glory to his name.
Amen. Opening prayer, brother waynerd.
All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church and take out your bulletin and go through a couple announcements real quickly because I do want to have time for the sermon, but let's count up any unreported
salvations, and remember Tuesday was the last day of the previous year, so I think we are up to date for that, so just Wednesday to the present day, any salvations to report over in this section? Three.
Anybody else? How about this section here? Salvations? Anybody? One. Anybody else? How about over here? Salvations? Two. Anybody else? So six salvations, did I miss anybody? All right, well great work everybody, of course you do have soul winning today, and we'll try our best to be on schedule for the soul winning.
It's possible we might start a little bit late. I need to make sure I have time to finish this sermon as we're filming for this documentary. You know, obviously keep in mind all the videos and equipment we have, so be very careful with your kids running around and do your best not to do any video bombing, okay?
So it's like I'm in the middle of like being really intense, and then we just, you know, there's like a blur. Somebody's like going across the screen. Do your best just to avoid it. Step around or whatever. Make sure if you go to the restroom after you move around, you try to avoid that.
One thing I do not want to pass up though is our New Testament Bible reading challenge. Obviously it's an exciting day to day, but make sure you're having your personal walk with God. We gave you that handout last week that you can just check off if you're new here.
You know, we can send it to you. We sent the PDF in the group chat, but just the goal to memorize, or not memorize the New Testament. Read the New Testament in the month of January, and that chart should help you out.
If you're able to memorize the entire New Testament in the month of January, then you know what? I'll give you a nice prize, but that's probably not going to happen. But try to read through the entire New Testament, and that might seem like a big goal if you've never really dug into reading the Bible, but I would say that most of the people at our church last year did read the entire New Testament in January, and that's a big goal.
I mean, that's a lot of reading, and praise God for that, because you get started the New Year just with your personal walk with God. So I believe that is it for announcements. This time we will have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
Then pour concept on all my pride.
For be it Lord that our truth falls,
Save in the death of Christ my God,
All the main things that your King holds,
I'd sacrifice them to his blood on the third seed.
In his hand, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love won't mingle down,
In sorrow he bore thorns composed,
So rich and proud,
Where the whole realm of nature hung,
That where our present power to spawn,
Love so amazing, so divine,
He messed my soul, my life, my own.
For our script reading, please open your Bible to Acts 19.
Acts 19, we will read beginning from verse number 23 to verse number 41.
Acts 19, beginning from verse number 23, the Bible reads,
At the same time there arose no small stir about that way,
For a certain man named Demetrius, a celibate smith,
Who made celibate shrines for Diana,
Brought no small gain unto the craftsman,
Whom he called together with a workman of like of a patient,
And said, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our will.
Moreover, you see and hear that not alone are the pesos,
But almost throughout all Asia,
This pole hath persuaded and turned away massed people,
Saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands,
So that not only is our craft in danger to be set up not,
But also that the temple of the great goddess Diana shall be despised,
And her magnificience shall be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.
And when they heard his sayings, they were full of wrath,
And cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
And the whole city was filled with confusion,
And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
Mera of Macedonia, false companions in trouble,
They rushed with one horde into the theatre,
And when four would have entered in unto the people,
The disciples offered them not.
And certain of the chief of Asia which were his prince,
Sent unto him desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
Some therefore cried one thing and some another,
For the assembly was confused,
And the more far few not, wherefore they were come together.
And they drew Alexander out of the multitude,
The Jews putting him forward,
And Alexander beckoned with a hand,
And would have made his defense unto the people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew,
All with one voice about the space of two hours cried out,
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
And when the tauntered had appeased the people, he said,
Amen, O pesos, what minister that knoweth not,
Out of the city of the Ephesians,
Is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana,
And of the image we spelt down from Jupiter,
Saying then that these things cannot be spoken against,
He ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rustly.
For you have brought theatre these men,
Which are neither robbers of your chest,
Nor yet blasphemers of your goddess,
Wherefore the Matthews and a craftsman which are with him
Have a matter against any man,
The law is open, and there are deputies,
Let them impede one another.
But if we inquire anything concerning other matters,
It shall be determined in a local assembly,
For we are in danger to be called in question for the space of her,
There being no cause whereby we may give an account
Of this concourse.
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Let us pray.
All right, we're here in Acts chapter 19,
and the name of the sermon is Great is the Goddess Diana,
and we're going to be going verse by verse through this in Acts chapter 19.
I'll start with a bit of an introduction to where we kind of get into the meat of the sermon,
but the focus of this sermon is not about the nature or the comprehension of who God is,
but it's really kind of answering this question, you know,
why does idolatry even exist?
Because when you don't practice idolatry, you look at it,
it's so stupid, it's like, how does this even continue?
You'd think it would die out, and yet when you're reading the Bible,
it's true that even past the Antichrist revealing himself,
saying that, you know, he's God in the temple of God,
idolatry will still exist.
It talks about that in Revelation chapter 9,
that they have images of gold and silver,
so idolatry is never going to die out,
and kind of the question is, why doesn't it just die out
because it's so ridiculous and it makes no sense?
And I'm going to give you four points for that later on in the sermon.
Let me give you a bit of an introduction to this, though, in Acts 19,
because the location of this is in Ephesus,
and of course, Ephesus, we know, we think of the book of Ephesians, right?
It's the same location, there's the church of Ephesus,
and, you know, this is in the location of Ephesus,
which was known to be the richest part of Asia during that time period.
When the Bible says Asia, it's not referring to Asia like we think of Asia today.
Asia was Asia Minor, so it's over in present-day Turkey,
but Ephesus was a very rich area.
Now, later on in this chapter, you know, this person's going to say,
you know, everybody worships, the whole world worships this goddess Diana,
and of course, when you're reading this, you're like, who's Diana?
I've never heard of her, right?
But actually, Diana was very famous for that day
because this temple has another name called the Temple of Artemis,
and have you ever heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?
This is one of the wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis.
Artemis is the Greek name for this goddess.
Diana is the Roman name for this goddess, okay?
So historically, it's more known as the Temple of Artemis,
but the King James Bible, I'll show you here in a little bit,
is correct by saying Diana, okay?
But let me just read you a little bit about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Here's a quote from a famous historical person, Anapar of Sidon,
and it says,
The next greatest and last form of the temple, funded by the Ephesians themselves,
is described in Anapar of Sidon's list of the world's seven wonders.
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon,
because the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is one of the seven wonders,
on which is a road for chariots,
and the statue of Zeus by the Alphaeus,
and the Hanging Gardens and the Colossus of the Sun,
and the huge labor of the high pyramids and the vast tomb of Mausolus.
But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds,
those other marvels lost their brilliancy,
and I said, Lo, apart from Olympus, the sun never looked on aught so grand.
So from this person, when he's talking about it,
he's saying this is like near the top or the best of the seven wonders.
So this is actually a very famous location, historically speaking,
and six of the seven wonders do not exist today.
The only one existing is the Pyramid of Giza over in Egypt.
The other six wonders have been destroyed, okay?
But this was considered a great area for that time period.
This was a very famous goddess, and my point is this,
that during this day, if you lived during this time period,
this would have been one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the world.
In today's world, Mecca is the most famous place people travel for a religious reason, right?
There's also a lot of Hindu pilgrimages and Buddhist pilgrimages.
Now here's the thing, when you go to pilgrimages,
what you're also going to find is a lot of businesses that exist completely because of the pilgrimage.
So for example, there are businesses associated with the pilgrimage to Mecca,
and it's like you leave and you get a T-shirt of a cube or whatever, okay?
If you go to these Hindu pilgrimages, guess what?
You can walk out and get your little idol.
So if you were in this time period and you went to see Diana of the Ephesians in Ephesus,
what are you going to do?
Well, when you go on vacation, you want a souvenir.
So guess what? People are going to walk away with a little idol to remember the trip, right?
I mean, that's just kind of logic. That's what people do.
When I go on vacations, I will often try to get something as a souvenir,
and of course, if you're going for a religious reason,
you're going to get something associated with that religion that you are following, right?
And of course, that's what people would do when they went here.
They'd walk away with an idol.
As a result of that, there are going to be people selling idols,
and that's the concept that you see here in Acts 19.
It kind of sets off what's going on in Acts 19 because it's a famous pilgrimage site.
Now let me just show you before I get into the sermon.
Diana is the correct translation in this chapter.
It should not be Artemis. The King James Bible is correct, okay?
It is true that the New Testament was written in Greek, okay?
But the Bible gives the name of Diana, the Roman name.
You say, well, why is that?
If you look historically, during this time period, there was a lot of goddesses named Artemis,
but there was one Diana that was known.
So if you said Artemis, it's already vague.
But aside from that, if you lived during that time period and you saw coins of this goddess,
guess what the name on those coins was? Diana.
Diana is the correct name. If you look at it historically,
it's basically not really looking at the information.
She says, well, it should be Artemis because it was written in Greek, so it should say Artemis,
and yet she was known by everyone as Diana.
I mean, the crowd's chanting Diana, and I believe that is accurate because...
Look, there's a lot of places in today's world that have multiple names.
That's not a weird thing. That's not a strange thing.
But she was known as Diana, and that was very clear. That was more famous.
Artemis would be very vague.
So the King James Bible, as always, is correct when it translates it as Diana.
And one thing we can walk away with, because we might not know the history of certain things,
but we can always trust the King James Bible is correct, even if we don't fully understand everything.
We do have a perfect and preserved Word of God.
There is a reason why every translation before the King James said, guess what?
Diana, not Artemis.
And now these modern people that live so far after think they're so smart.
It's like, well, how come all the people that spoke a multitude of languages all said Diana?
Maybe they knew what they were talking about, okay?
So here we are in Acts 19. Let's start here in verse number 23.
And it says,
In the same time there arose no small stir about that way,
for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana,
brought no small gain unto the craftsman.
He got this man by the name of Demetrius, and he makes money by making idols of Diana. Right?
People go to their pilgrimage, and it's like, hey, you know what?
Buy one for 10,000 pesos, or get three for 25,000 pesos. Right? Or whatever.
And it's like, he brings no small gain, meaning there is a lot of money in idolatry. Right?
A lot of money that they're making off of this idol.
And it says here in verse number 25,
Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation said,
Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
Here's a man that is worried that his source of income is going to be destroyed.
He is worried that his job is going to become obsolete.
This guy is an expert at making statues of Diana, and somehow he brings all the money for all the people.
Somehow he's responsible for all the money.
But it's like, he makes the statues, and he calls them together, and he says,
Hey, this is how we make money. Okay?
If this goddess loses her value, we lose her job. Okay?
We're depending on Diana. I mean, this is how we make our money.
This is why we have good careers, because of this goddess Diana.
By the way, what's in this guy's heart?
Is it a love for Diana or a love for money?
Love for money, because that's what he brings up.
Although later on he's going to bring up Diana,
I'm worried about the magnificence of Diana.
You're worried about the money.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Verse 26,
Moreover ye see in here that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia,
this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people,
saying that they be no gods which are made with hands.
He's saying, you know what, this guy Paul, because Paul has a reputation.
I mean, the world is literally being turned upside down,
as it talked about a few chapters earlier,
and all these people are hearing about Christianity spreading,
churches are starting, and he's like, man, at these other locations,
I mean, idols are not as popular anymore.
We cannot let that take place here at Ephesus,
because this is how we make our money. Right?
It's all about money inside of his heart.
See, the first reason listed here in Acts 19 of why idolatry will never stop
is because of the love of money.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
You have to understand that no matter what it is,
if there is something people are willing to buy,
then there will be people willing to make it so it can be bought.
It doesn't matter how wrong it is.
It doesn't matter how sinful it is.
I mean, if nobody wanted to purchase idols, he wouldn't make idols.
But as long as there are people that want idols, guess what?
There will be people that will make idols to make money.
It's like this in any area of the world.
And see, an outside source of why idolatry exists
is the love of money and people making money off of it.
And here's the thing about this.
I mean, obviously there was more money in idolatry back then
because it was harder to make these statues.
But you know, when you walk around here in the Philippines,
I see idol shops where that's all they do.
They make statues of all of these gods.
I mean, that's how they make their money.
And since this has a lot of money behind it, this is always going to exist.
See, the people that make idols don't necessarily have to believe in the idol.
They might not.
They might not care.
Maybe you talk to them and it's like, do you believe this?
No, I'm a Muslim, man. I don't believe in this.
I'm an atheist. Of course I don't believe in this.
It's a piece of clay.
But people are willing to pay me for it.
And I have no idea. I mean, this guy will mention Diana later.
Who knows if he even believes in it, right?
He obviously cares more about the money than he does about the goddess.
But the love of money is an outside source that will drive idolatry.
1 Timothy 6, verse 8.
And having food in raiment, let us be there with content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil.
Now it does not say money is the root of all evil.
But the love of money is the root of all evil.
And here's a man that says, hey, you know what?
This is how I can make money. I'll make the idol.
Because the love of money is the root of all evil, as the Bible says.
Now go to Judges 17.
Let me show you a few examples, or an example here in Judges 17,
about how there's a lot of money behind idolatry.
Judges chapter 17.
And this is the section in the book of Judges.
You have Judges 17 through 21, where basically every man did that,
which was right in his own eyes.
And then you see all kinds of sin.
In my opinion, chapter 19 is the most disturbing chapter in the Bible.
I'd put it above Genesis 19.
I mean, just craziness and madness,
because man living underneath no rules is going to be in a lot of trouble,
and going to commit a lot of sin.
Right now, obviously, ideally, we have God's laws guiding us.
But even having just basic rules of structure is helpful.
What if you had no rules for your kids?
Good luck. It's like, well, what time are you going to go to bed?
Well, I'm thinking about going to bed at 3 a.m.
Well, you shouldn't eat ice cream right before you go to sleep.
But you can do whatever you want, because there's no rules, right?
It's like your kids are going to destroy their lives.
We need rules, and in Judges 17, there's basically no rules.
Nobody basically putting any rules out.
So here's what it says in Judges 17, verse 1.
And there was a man of Ephraim, Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
And let me just say this on a side point,
because when I first started reading the Bible, you know, you don't have last names.
So I kind of didn't realize how many names come up over and over again.
This is not the same great Micah the prophet, okay?
This is a bad guy in Judges 17.
Don't get confused.
Oh, yeah, like the prophet Micah.
No, no, no, no.
Completely different person, okay?
But there's this guy named Micah here, and it says here in verse 2,
And he said unto his mother, this is a very funny verse,
The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee,
about which thou cursed, and spakest of also in mine ears.
Behold, the silver is with me.
I took it.
And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.
So this man says, you know the money that was stolen,
and you were cursing and yelling, and oh, so mad,
and you spoke to me, and you talked about it every day?
I took it.
Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.
Here's a kid that never got a spanking, right?
So he steals eleven hundred shekels of silver,
and notice what it says in verse 3,
And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother,
his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord for my hand for my son,
to make a graven image and a molten image.
Now therefore I were restored unto thee.
She said, I was going to use this to make graven images.
I was going to use it to make statues that we can worship.
Verse number 4,
Yet he restored the money unto his mother,
and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver,
so two hundred out of eleven hundred,
and gave them to the founder who made thereof a graven image and a molten image,
and they were in the house of Micah.
So she takes two hundred shekels of silver to do this.
Now that sounds like a lot of money,
but of course the question we ask is,
how much is a shekel of silver?
Now I made a mistake because I broke a cardinal rule of studying the Bible.
You always look at the context of the chapter first,
because I went to Google,
how much is a shekel of silver,
and quite honestly they have the wrong answer.
Because later on we actually get an idea that it's actually a lot more than what you see on Google,
at least what I saw,
because notice what it says in verse number 10.
Judges 17 verse 10,
And Micah said unto him,
Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest.
So Micah's going to hire this guy to be his priest,
and notice what he's going to pay him.
And I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year,
and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals, so the Levite win in.
He said, I'm going to pay you ten shekels per year,
and then I'm going to give you your food, your clothing, and a place to stay,
and your basic salary is ten shekels for a year.
So if you can hire somebody for ten shekels for a year,
plus give them the basic things,
and we're talking about he stole eleven hundred shekels of silver,
that's like hiring that guy for a hundred and ten years.
Or two hundred shekels of silver, the idol that she made,
that's twenty years worth hiring this guy.
I don't know how much that translates to in the modern day,
but that is a lot of money.
That is a lot of money that he stole,
and a lot of money that's being used on idols,
and it's not just the two hundred shekels,
because notice what it says in verse number five.
And the man Micah had in house of gods,
and made an ephod and terephim,
and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
It's not just one idol, he's got a multitude of idols.
Imagine being incredibly rich, and it's like,
man, what should I spend it on?
I got all this extra money.
Let me just make another idol.
Isn't it true people with a lot of money just tend to spend it on whatever,
it doesn't have to have a good reason?
But spending it on idolatry.
This is a very, very rich woman spending all of this money on idols.
And what am I saying to you?
Here's what I'm saying.
There's money to be had in making idols.
And as long as people are willing to buy idols and spend money on it,
guess what?
People are going to be willing to make it in order to make money.
Go back to Acts 19.
Acts 19.
There's another story you can think of in the Bible.
Remember the golden calf in Exodus 32.
You don't have to turn there.
You're going to Acts 19.
But in Exodus 32, where did they get the gold for that calf?
The gold earrings.
Right?
I mean, they took the gold earrings from the people.
And it was the people's money.
Because, of course, they're traveling through the wilderness,
but they go to various locations, and guess what?
Gold has value everywhere.
They had something real and valuable, gold,
and then they took their own money to make a golden calf.
And you know what that shows you?
People are willing to spend actual money and waste it on idolatry.
Look, I'm sure you have relatives that are not doing that well financially,
and they could use money to do a lot of things,
and guess where their money is in?
A little shrine of idols.
And it's like, what are you doing?
Many years ago, I was in Guyana, soul winning,
and the country Guyana, the first thing to say,
Guyana and Ghana are different countries.
I've never been to Africa.
Ghana is in Africa.
Guyana is where the cult leader Jim Jones went.
It's in South America.
It's a small country, about a million people, English speaking,
and the ethnicity of people is Indian.
Okay?
Now, with people that are Indian, though,
it's like, because in America, you can kind of know ahead of time
whether someone's likely to be Hindu,
because they're either going to be Indian, pretty much,
or some weird-looking white guy, right?
But here, I mean, everybody is Indian descent.
Now, most people in Guyana are some sort of Christianity,
but there's like 20% of the population that's Hindu.
You really, at least not being from that area,
I had no idea who was Hindu, just walking up to people.
Then you start talking to people, you realize they're Hindu.
And so I was going door-to-door soul winning,
and I went into this gate there,
and kind of the rules of proper etiquette are kind of different,
depending on cultures.
And so I just walked into the person's gate,
that's kind of what you did when you went soul winning there,
and there's these two people sitting outside, they were eating,
and I started talking to them.
And immediately when I walked in, I noticed the house,
because the house was extremely rundown.
I mean, there were literally holes in the side of the house
where animals could just go in.
Broken windows, the house was a mess.
Incredibly poor from what I saw.
And I'm talking to these two guys, and I realized,
well, one was some sort of Christian, one was Hindu,
and I realized they had been drinking alcohol.
So at that point it's like, I'm not going to try to give the gospel to people
that are kind of drunk, so I'm going to move on.
But they were offering me, no, no, stay and eat something.
And especially the Hindu guy wanted me to eat something.
And I'm like, has this been offered in sacrifice to idols?
And I was like, no, no, I'm okay, I need to get going.
And he was being very pushy, and I'm just trying to be polite.
You know how you have conversations, you want to get away,
and you try to just use the polite approach,
and eventually you have to be more firm or whatever.
And so I just kind of got my way out of there.
The guy literally, he's like, no, no, no, he's like, I love Jesus.
He's like, don't leave. He's like, I love Jesus.
He's like, let me talk to you.
And the guy literally, as I'm walking and go back out his gate,
he ran in front of me.
And I'm just thinking, it's weird to me.
I mean, this is a Hindu guy, tell me he loves Jesus,
he's drunk trying to get me to eat, I don't know,
whatever weird food it probably is.
And I love Indian food, I'm just saying,
it's probably offered in sacrifice to idols or whatever, I don't know.
And so he runs in front of me, I'm just thinking,
okay, what am I going to do here?
I've got to be polite, I've got to get out of here.
He's like, no, I love Jesus.
He's like, I love Jesus.
I'm like, okay.
And then he's like, I've got to show you something.
I'm like, you know, I'm really busy.
No, let me quickly show you.
He's like, let me show you right here.
And he had like a little cupboard or dresser like outside,
the little wooden little cabinet.
And then he's like, no, you've got to see this.
And I'm thinking, okay.
And then he opens it up and all of a sudden,
instead of trying to leave, I just stopped.
I was like, I was stunned because it was like the most magnificent idols
I've ever seen in my life.
This guy's house was falling apart and inside this cupboard,
I mean, he had enough money put into those idols.
A lot of idols of Jesus.
Man, he loved Jesus, right?
Enough money was put in those idols.
He could have fixed his house.
I mean, literally.
You got holes in your house so rest could be running in
and all kinds of animals.
And yet you've got these idols that you're praying to and worshiping.
And I'm just thinking.
And then all of a sudden, like I snapped out of it.
I was like, I got to go.
And I just ran and got out of there.
But I was stunned.
I was just like, I couldn't believe it.
I mean, so much money was being spent on something.
And I'm just thinking, man, you could use that money
for a multitude of different things.
And you're using it on these idols that you pray to that cannot speak.
They cannot hear.
They cannot answer your prayers.
It's like, what are you doing?
And you see these things and you kind of wonder, how does this even exist?
But one reason is the love of money
because there are people willing to make these idols
if there are people willing to spend their hard-earned money
that they make.
Point number one is the love of money.
That's one reason why idolatry exists.
You know, another reason why idolatry exists is simply tradition.
Tradition.
I mean, if you're in this room and you practiced idolatry in the past.
Now, if you still practice idolatry, it's like you need to get right with God.
I'm sure there are a lot of people in this room that practiced idolatry in the past.
I mean, you used to clutch onto those rosary beads.
You used to worship those statues and everything like that.
And now you don't. And you say, well, why did you do it?
Because of tradition.
It was what you were taught.
And you just kind of followed the tradition that you were taught.
Notice what it says in Acts 19, verse 26.
Moreover, you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus,
but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away
much people, saying that there be no gods which are made with hands.
So that not only this, our craft is in danger,
how they make their money, to be said it not,
but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana
should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed,
whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
Now, I don't believe this guy cares about Diana at all.
But here's the thing.
He gets the people on his side that are making money off these idols,
and he's thinking, if I want to rile up the crowd to arrest or stone or kill Paul,
let me bring in the rabid people following a tradition.
And he's like, hey, you know, the magnificence of Diana.
And what's the result? There's a bunch of people that are like, yeah,
I mean, don't destroy Diana. And all of a sudden, they're mad.
Right? Verse 28.
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying,
greatest Diana of the Ephesians.
I mean, the crowd's going crazy.
It is literally just like the black Nazarene where they're shouting,
viva, viva, viva.
Why? Tradition.
I mean, ask anyone in that crowd, why are you saying that?
And they're going to be like, I don't know, that's what other people were saying.
I mean, somebody could just be walking down the street, I mean, know nothing about them,
maybe from another area or another country.
And all of a sudden, people start chanting, viva, and it's like, viva.
And they're like, what's going on?
It's like, why am I saying this?
Because you're just doing what everybody else is doing.
Go to Galatians chapter one.
Galatians one.
I mean, I remember one time I was visiting a relatively famous independent fundamental Baptist church
in the U.S., and this was in West Virginia.
This was a while ago.
But at the time, it was a very famous church, and me and my friends were visiting.
And it was just a normal Sunday morning.
And I remember all of a sudden, you know, I'm looking around, it's a big church, you know,
a lot of people come to it, it's a pretty well-known church, the pastor's pretty famous.
And all of a sudden, I just started clapping.
And I'm thinking, why am I clapping?
And then I realized, everybody's clapping.
And I'm thinking, I looked at my friend, I was like, you know, what's going on?
And he said, the pastor just entered the room.
I'm like, what?
Every time the pastor comes to church, it's like, yeah, the pastor's here.
Now, look, I think you ought to respect your pastor.
But don't start, like, you know, clapping when I come.
Say, yeah, pastor Stuckey's here, woo!
Now, you know, I wouldn't really be for it for a special event, but I could kind of understand.
But a normal Sunday morning, I mean, that's a different form of idolatry.
Right? That's man worship right there.
But my point is this, I was just kind of doing it just without even thinking because that's what everybody was doing.
Right? I mean, this is what people do.
And, you know, when you look at people that are practicing idolatry and following these traditions,
these people are often some of the most religious people there are.
People that are worshiping the Kaaba, I mean, Muslims are very religious.
They'll stop five times a day, wherever they are, face the right direction, put aside everything to pray.
I've known people that are in airports in Arabic countries where they'll say,
they got really scared because all of a sudden it was that time of day
and, like, everybody's on the ground doing their prayer routine
and they're, like, one of the few people standing because they're, like, a Christian.
It's like, yeah, that's weird.
But they're very devoted.
That's a tradition they do.
They don't necessarily know why they do it, but they're very devoted to it.
I mean, Hindus, I would say, are very religious people.
They follow those traditions. They do it.
I mean, people do these chants in Buddhism, Catholicism, Orthodox.
And I would say that when people are very devoted to these things, hey, they're very religious.
And why are they doing this?
If you were to ask them, here's their answer, I don't know, that's what my parents did.
That's what everybody else is doing, right?
That's just the tradition that they're following.
Now, look, I think it's very important, especially as I preach against idolatry
and talk about how stupid idolatry is, to separate the stupidity of what they're doing from the person themselves.
Because I do not believe these people are stupid.
I believe Paul the Apostle was an incredibly intelligent and educated person. Wouldn't you say that?
Notice what he says in Galatians 1, verse 13.
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it,
and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my no nation,
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
You know, before Paul was saved, he was no different than any of us that followed dumb and foolish traditions.
We were all sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, as the Bible says.
Why? It's just what we do.
There's a lot of things we do as a kid, and you know, you're kind of wondering why.
Sometimes you might ask your parents, and then they say whatever, and you just kind of keep doing it.
And sometimes you don't really understand it, but well, this is just what we do.
Go to Colossians, chapter 2.
Colossians, chapter 2.
And by the way, when we get closer to the point of, you know, going through all the work on the documentary,
what I would love is for people that are in our church that used to be very into idolatry,
to just give us like interviews on the tradition and why they did it.
Right? And that's the part I would love to have in the documentary.
And I want to be very clear. I don't think people are, I mean, I wasn't Catholic growing up.
I've never been into idolatry.
I don't think people are stupid that do these things, and I'll make that very clear in the documentary.
This is just a driving force behind idolatry. It's just tradition.
Because many people in this room, you just kind of did these things because that's what you were taught,
and it never really made sense to you, but it's just what we do.
Right? That's what we do. So you follow that pattern.
Paul the Apostle was no different.
Colossians 2, verse 8, here's what he says. He says,
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
He said, you know what? There's a lot of philosophies out there,
and traditions are based on these false philosophies.
And he said people are doing these things, and it's like you're following these traditions,
you don't know why, and they actually don't make any sense.
Then he says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
We talked about the nature of God and the nature of Jesus Christ during the first sermon,
and it's kind of like that's what he's kind of speaking towards,
and there's these false philosophies and ideas such as this is God that drive people to these crazy traditions.
He's like don't let yourself get deceived by these things that cause you to do these traditions that do not make any sense.
But Paul the Apostle was one of those people that did that.
He followed the traditions, because the Jews had a lot of traditions when you're reading through the gospels, didn't they?
It's like you do this, you do this, you do this, and a lot of times what Jesus says is
your tradition is making the commandment of God of none effect.
You're breaking God's commandments to keep man's traditions.
And here in the Philippines and all throughout the world,
people that are practicing idolatry are breaking God's commandments in order to keep man's traditions.
Turn to Romans 1. Romans 1.
See, the love of money is a driving force of idolatry,
and from the outside there's people that want this practice to continue because they make a lot of money off of it.
Another reason is tradition. The people themselves, they just kind of keep doing this based on tradition.
I believe in giving credit where credit's due.
I've been excited about this documentary, and Brother Franklin had an idea he told me last week,
and I thought about it, and I was like, yeah, that actually makes sense.
Another thing that drives idolatry is a hatred of God,
because you practiced idolatry because of tradition.
A lot of people practicing idolatry, they actually hate the real God,
so they intentionally make a God in their own image to spite God, and they hate God.
And that's why they are doing it.
And I'll prove it to you. Romans 1, verse 18.
See, there are people that hear the truth of God's word,
they hear what God says, and they consider what God says to be unrighteous and unfair.
Isn't that true today with people that want to stand in judgment of God against the LGBT and things like that?
Well, we should just love everybody and accept every sin.
And it's like they hold the truth of God's word in unrighteousness.
They declare God to be unrighteousness.
They think that they can stand in the place of God and make the rules,
and they think that they're perfect and they're experts,
and the reality is they hate the actual God.
Verse 19.
Now, we can look at the things that God has made to get an understanding of Him,
and it says, even His eternal power and Godhead.
Now, I don't think we can fully comprehend everything about God,
but just to give you like a loose understanding of this,
you know, we are made with a body, soul, and spirit.
And of course, God is the three in one.
Now, that's not a perfect illustration of that,
but even the very nature of God, we can get a bit of an understanding based on what He has made, right?
So these people that reject God and hold the truth in unrighteousness,
they're without excuse, the Bible says.
Then it says this in verse 21,
because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful.
So I mean, because you know, you think of kids,
they're very thankful for everything they have in life,
but you know what happens?
People get older, and they can sometimes get bitter and mad.
And instead of being thankful at the things that God has given them,
they focus on all the things that they hate,
and then they say it's not fair, it's not right,
and they're not thankful for anything God has done for them.
And it says, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Now, you know, usually when you hear this preached,
and this is a good application,
you think of like atheism and evolution and people like that,
and that is a good application,
but if you actually look at the context,
the primary application is idolatry.
And I think the reason why you usually hear this preached about evolution
is because in America, there's very little physical, actual idolatry.
Even the Catholics are not that into idolatry,
and it's true they profess themselves to be wise, and they're fools,
but actually if you look at the context,
it's about making an image in their own mind
and worshipping and serving the creature rather than the creator.
What it's saying is you're worshipping an image,
or let me go back to my idol.
You're worshipping an image that you made rather than the creator, right?
And they became vain in their imaginations,
because it would be pretty dumb to say, you know what, this is God, right?
And this might seem crazy,
but if you ever watch documentaries on India or Hinduism,
they've got some crazy gods.
What is it, like Kali is the evil god?
She's got like a necklace of all the people she's killed with like their heads,
and she's like stomping, and she like looks really evil and like really scary.
You know, my friend told me like when people say they worship Kali,
in India, people are really afraid because they're like,
oh, that's like some sort of, you know, Mancukulam
or something like that over there, I guess.
But it's just like that's the god that you worship?
I mean, it's crazy, but their imaginations,
they're vain in their imaginations.
There was somebody in India a few years ago,
he made an idol of Donald Trump,
and it's like one month later, there's a young guy,
and then he just fell over dead.
It's just like, well, I don't know if that's directly correlated
to worshipping the image of Donald Trump,
but it's like, you know, it is what it is.
But it's like people make an image of whatever,
and then they start bowing down and worshipping it.
It's like, what are you doing?
They become vain in their imaginations.
And notice what it says in verse 23.
And change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
made like to corruptible man into birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
And isn't it true that oftentimes idolatry is focused on animals?
Dagon was a fish god.
Ganesh is the elephant god over in India.
I mean, isn't it true that idolatry is often associated with animals as well?
And they make images and start worshipping an animal,
and they're worshipping the creature rather than the creator.
Now, why is it I don't think you should ever make an image of God?
Even though man is made in the image of God,
I do not know directly what God looks like.
And so why would you make an image when you...
I mean, look, if you said, hey, I've never seen Matthew Stuckey before,
but I've heard him preach,
so I want to make an image and start worshipping that image.
And then all of a sudden he makes an image, and it looks like, you know,
I don't know, someone born in, like, Africa or something.
It's like, I'm not... I'm white, you know?
That's not me, right?
And it's like, people are making images.
It's like, well, why would you think that God looks like that?
Especially here in tricycles when they got a white Jesus that they're worshipping or whatever.
It's like, I don't think Jesus looked like that.
He wasn't born in America, right, or whatever, you know?
But then it says this in verse 24.
This is exactly what people are doing when they are bowing down and worshipping idols.
They are worshipping the creature rather than the creator.
Even if they do not make an animal with that idol,
they are still using things that God has made, stone and wood.
They're worshipping the creature, the creation of God,
rather than the creator that actually made those things.
How crazy is it to worship the wood that God made
rather than worshipping God that made the wood?
And that's what people do.
And sometimes you look at this and you're like, how does this even continue?
But, I mean, one reason is the love of money.
Another reason is tradition.
But then here in Romans 1, you know what you're saying?
People that hate God.
And they intentionally are worshipping God in their own image, despite God.
I will not believe in the God of the Bible.
They hold the truth in unrighteousness.
They're unthankful.
And they make an image to worship.
This is how I want to worship God.
This is the God that I like.
Have you ever been soul winning and people have said things like,
well, my God wouldn't do that?
I've heard so many people say, well, my God wouldn't send somebody to hell.
It's like, well, you know, that's great,
except your God is a figment of your imagination, my friend.
It doesn't matter what you want to be true.
If it's not true, it's not true.
And what people are doing is so foolish.
I mean, imagine if someone said, you know, hey,
I just want to just eat all sugar all day long,
just a bunch of junk food, and I'm going to get in better shape.
Well, you do whatever you want, but you're not going to get in better shape.
And then people do this and it's just like, well,
if what you're saying is not actually true, it's not God.
Like, what are you doing? You can't just invent God in your own mind.
But they've got vain imaginations and they're inventors of evil things,
as the Bible says. Verse 26.
For this cause, God gave them up on the vile affections for even their women
to change the natural use in that which is against nature.
And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burn in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly
and receiving themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
they did not like the God of the Bible.
They don't want to think about the God of the Bible.
They do not like the God of the Bible.
And then it says in verse number 30, backbiters, haters of God.
A hatred of God is driving this.
I don't like the God of the Bible, so I'm going to worship an idol,
which is very different than what the God of the Bible says.
And then it says in verse number 32, who knowing the judgment of God,
they know the judgment of God.
They know what the Bible says, but they don't like what the Bible says.
They're going to do anything that they want.
Go to Acts 19.
Acts 19.
I mean, have you ever wondered this?
If you look at pictures of the Hindu gods, the Shiva's and all these gods,
isn't it true that their male gods look very feminine?
They look very girl?
Because they say, well, God is basically by gender.
He's not male or female.
So they make their male gods look like women,
so it's like a morphing of men and women together.
That's why they got the long hair, so it's like half a man, half a woman.
In their stories, when Shiva's married to, whether it be Sadi or Parvati or whomever,
that's the story, but what it's actually teaching is
his wife or his sister in these stories
is like the female counterpart of the essence of who God is,
because God is both male and female, they say.
And make no mistake about it, I mean, the Bible's very clear,
let us make man in our image.
Women are created by God, but man are made in His image.
Jesus did not have long hair.
He did not look like a woman,
and yet you see other people that practice idolatry,
they also make a feminine Jesus.
But that's the reason in Hinduism why their gods, you look at,
I mean, in some ways they make their gods really tough
and really feminine at the same time.
It's like these things don't match.
You got like a blue god that looks really tough, really muscular
while looking at like a woman at the same time,
and it's like their face is just like a mix between male and female
because that's the way that they view God.
Krishna looks as much like a woman as a man.
You look at it, it's like, is that a male or a woman?
But their statues and idols are meant to be both genders blended together.
What are they doing?
They're making God in their own image.
That's what they want to be true.
And they're rejecting what the Bible says and making their own image of God.
And you know what?
I don't know exactly what Jesus Christ looked like,
but he looked nothing like Shiva or Krishna or any of these Hindu gods.
Number one, he did not have blue skin.
I don't know how dark his skin was, but I know it wasn't blue, okay?
And his hair was not long either. He did not look like a woman.
Acts 19, verse 29.
And the Bible says,
And the whole city was filled with confusion,
and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travels,
they rushed with one accord into the theater,
and when Paul would have entered on the temple, the disciples suffered him not.
Now, there's a lot of people in this crowd that are just normal people that are caught up in this,
but I promise you there are bad people that hate God,
and they are driving this,
and they worship Diana because of a hatred of the true God.
And they are riling up the crowd,
and Gaius and Aristarchus, basically the helpers and the other soul owners,
are grabbed and brought in,
and then the Bible says in verse number 30,
And when Paul would have entered in under the people, the disciples suffered him not or did not allow him.
Why is it they did not let Paul go in there?
Because he's going to die.
They're going to stone him to death.
They're going to kill him.
Paul has compassion because he's thinking,
I'm kind of the big person that they're after,
and he's going in, and all the soul owners just stop him.
They're like, no, we're not letting you go in there, Paul.
We're stopping you because they realize Paul's going to get killed.
If these people are oh so loving,
because I promise you if you were to talk to these people,
they would have said God is love.
God is love, love, love,
mercy, mercy, mercy, peace, peace, peace.
And how loving is it that you're going to just kill Paul and Gaius and Aristarchus?
It's like speaking lies in hypocrisy, as the Bible says.
Then it says this in verse 31,
And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends,
so Paul had some friends that were powerful people,
sent on to him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater.
So basically they're saying, hey, don't let Paul go in.
Paul, don't go in. It's not going to be good for you.
It's too late. You can do nothing.
You cannot save these people. You can't help them.
Some, therefore, cried one thing and some another.
And notice this, for the assembly was confused.
Because people are crying different things.
People don't know what's going on.
One group's like, let's stone them.
And then the other group's yelling something else.
Like, let's stone them in jail.
And then people are like, a lot of people are like, what's going on?
It's like, you know, which side am I on?
They don't know what's going on.
And what's amazing is then it says this,
And the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
So most people in the crowd, they're like, greatest Diana of the Ephesians.
Like, what are we doing?
We don't even know.
Most people are following the tradition.
But then you see the evil people that hate God that are driving this forward.
Right?
Go to Judges chapter six.
Judges six.
You know, in the Bible, you see a lot of idolatry in the Old Testament.
And you'll see righteous kings that come in.
And you know what you see when righteous kings come in?
Sometimes they get rid of the idolatry, and sometimes they don't.
You say, why is it they don't just all get rid of the idolatry?
Because they're afraid.
Right?
They're afraid there's going to be a lot of people that might want to kill us if we get rid of the idols.
There are going to be a lot of people that are going to be plotting the death of you as the king
if you decide to destroy their idols and what they're worshipping.
And you know, I hope that if I was the king and the leader, I would just destroy all the idols.
But I'll say this.
It's a lot easier to preach it than to actually do it,
because if there's a bunch of people that are trying to kill me all the time,
and you can see why they don't just always destroy the idols.
And there's another story in the Bible with Gideon where he deals with something very, very similar.
Because notice what it says in Judges six, verse 27.
Then Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had said on them.
And so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city
that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
I mean, he's told to destroy the altar of Baal.
And he brings people with him.
And he does not do it by day because he's afraid he's going to get caught.
And he's like, let me just do it by night and nobody will find out.
Well, unfortunately, somebody found out.
Because notice what it says here in verse 30 later on in the story.
Then the men of the city said unto Joash,
Bring out thy son that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal,
and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.
You know what you're seeing there in Judges chapter six?
There are a lot of evil people that worship false religions,
and there are a large reason why this practice goes on.
Now, look, the average person that's at a Catholic church
is just an unsaved and deceived person that we can reach with the gospel.
But the spiritual leaders of the Catholic church are a bunch of evil and wicked people.
And the same is true for any false religion, the spiritual leaders.
I mean, look, if you look at the people that are these leaders in Hinduism
and really into idolatry, they are like the scariest and weirdest looking people in the world.
These are not normal people, and these are people that hate God,
and they intentionally are trying to destroy the God of the Bible,
so they worship these images that they make in their own minds.
They'll say they believe in God, but they don't believe in the God of the Bible.
They actually hate the God of the Bible.
Turn your Bible to Acts 16, Acts 16, Acts chapter 16.
See, one reason why idolatry has always existed and it always will exist is the love of money.
I mean, if people are willing to spend money, there are people that are willing to make the idols,
whether they believe in it or not.
Another reason why idolatry always has existed and always will exist is tradition.
The vast majority of people, they just do what they're taught.
And of course, the goal is that as people get older, they hear the truth, they get saved,
and then all of a sudden they're like, man, how foolish was I?
But the reality is all of us, it's just like we just kind of do what we're taught.
Number three, though, is a hatred of God.
There are people that just flat out hate God, and they are the ones that are helping drive this together.
You know, lastly, a reason why idolatry always has and always will exist is devil possession,
because many people that are worshipping these idols are getting possessed,
and they're experiencing something they've never experienced before.
And that story is just keeping things going.
Acts 16, verse 16, it says,
And this is a woman who is a sorcerer, and she's screaming, though, behind Paul.
She's just like, you know, Paul, Silas, these men are servants of the most high God.
Imagine going soul winning and someone screaming behind you,
saying, hey, these people are giving you the way of salvation, listen to them.
Does that help you preach the gospel?
I've had times like that, I'm preaching the gospel, and then all of a sudden somebody walks over,
and they're like, yep, yeah, everything you say is true, yep, yep.
And it's just like, can you just get out of here?
And usually there are bad people that are doing that, probably possessed oftentimes,
and they destroy the conversation, right?
And it says here in verse number 18,
It's not just one day. You say, man, I can't stand it.
Those 20 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.
I mean, Paul was dealing with this for several days, okay?
And then it says,
And of course, this is how Paul gets arrested,
because people are going to lose money now, and they're mad because of the love of money.
What you're seeing, false religion and devil possession, these go very hand in hand together.
I remember something kind of similar before when I was out soul winning,
not to this level of degree, but I remember soul winning in Sacramento.
And we're going door to door, and there was this woman in the middle of the street that was crazy.
And she was like, her clothing was torn, and she's like standing up and just like, ah, just screaming.
And it's pretty weird.
And I've dealt with people that I think were possessed, but she started to follow us.
And we're preaching the gospel, or trying to, and nobody's really listening because it's the U.S.,
but we're trying, we're knocking the doors, and then we're going from door to door.
And this woman, I wasn't really that afraid because this woman was stalking us like zombie speed.
It was like, ah, ah, ah, but she was like screaming as she did it.
But she was going very slow, so I knew she's not catching up to us.
My soul winning partner was afraid, though.
He was like, we've got to get out of here. This woman's crazy.
And I was like laughing about it. I was like, look how slow she's going.
Now, if she all of a sudden started running, then I wouldn't be running, too.
But she's going really slow, just like stalking us and just like screaming.
But, you know, we ended up just quitting on the street anyway.
I was like, okay, you know, you're right.
But the reason why I said that was not because I was afraid.
I was just like, with this woman screaming, I mean, we're not going to be able to preach the gospel.
And if we do start preaching the gospel, she's going to start to catch up, ah, ah.
So I was like, we better get out of here now, right?
But this is going on for several days, and Paul's like, I can't take it anymore.
And then eventually this is why they get arrested.
But what I'm saying is you're seeing devil possession with these false religions.
This goes hand in hand together.
Here's what it says from the Black Nazarene online.
This is not chat GBT, but on Google when you type it in, AI overview, it says,
Some say that touching the Black Nazarene can lead to a direct experience of the sacred,
such as miraculous healing or inward transformation.
Others say that the experience of being with the people and getting in touch with the divine is cleansing
and can feel like a glimpse of heaven.
And there are certainly a lot of people that are worshiping the Black Nazarene,
and they think there's something miraculous about touching it.
Some of you might have believed that in the past as well.
And people believe there's something amazing about it.
You say, why would they say that?
Because they've had relatives or other people they knew that touched it
and they felt something they've never felt before.
I'm sure you did.
You know what you felt?
You felt devils entering into your system.
They got possessed with devils.
Here's what it says from the Kaaba over in Mecca.
And they've got a long section talking about touching the Kaaba,
but here's the emotional impact.
Many Muslims describe feeling overwhelming emotions like peace, tranquility,
and a sense of unity with the Muslim community when they touch the Kaaba.
Something special, not just being there, but if I can just touch it.
Wow.
You see people that go on Hindu pilgrimages and then they walk away
and then they'll say, it's like weird on this.
Like with Hindu pilgrimages, there's like people interviewing them afterwards,
like, how was it for you? How was it for you?
And it's like, man, I felt something I've never felt before.
You feel so close to the divine, you feel spiritual.
And it's like, what's taking place?
They're getting possessed by devils.
That is what is actually taking place.
Go to Revelation chapter nine, Revelation chapter nine.
And let me just show to you that idolatry is never going to end
because even after the Antichrist reveals himself,
there are people practicing idolatry.
And it kind of gives you a different sense of what's going to take place during the end times
because I remember when I was younger in the faith,
I used to kind of wonder like, how are these religions,
because which religion are they going to determine is correct?
How do you get them all on board together?
What you're seeing is during the end times, you see this oneness doctrine
and idolatry mixed together and everyone's just worshipping God in their own way.
And they can just make an image and worship God however you want.
I mean, the Black Nazarene might be around during the end times.
I don't know.
These images and idols are not going to die out
because notice what it says in Revelation nine, verse 20.
And the rest of the men which were killed not by these plagues,
yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship,
devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood,
which neither can see nor hear nor walk.
Neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of their thefts.
Do these people sound like good people?
Murder, fornication, sorcery, thefts?
They sound like pretty rotten people.
They sound like pretty bad people.
And yet they're very into idolatry.
And make no mistake about it, people that are really obsessed with idolatry are often just bad people.
Now there are definitely people practicing idolatry that are reachable and we can get saved,
but there are definitely people that hate God.
And I'm telling you, devil possession is taking place.
It is driving this to continue.
Let's go to Acts 19. We'll close up.
Acts chapter 19.
And look, I'm sure in this room there are a lot of people that used to practice idolatry.
And you know this to be true here in the Philippines.
It's something I've noticed.
Sometimes you'll be riding in a car or tricycle or a gypney or a grab car or whatever,
and maybe you're having a conversation with a driver, kind of testing the waters if I can give him the gospel or whatever.
Or maybe you just see certain things in the vehicle and you realize this is not the most godly person.
And then what do they often do when they drive by a Catholic church?
They stop to give the sign of the cross or they clutch onto the rosary beads or something like that.
It's like, why don't you just worry about keeping the commandments?
It's like, I'm in some tricycles and I've got this idol picture or whatever of this long-haired Jesus,
and then there's something else that's advertising a casino or something perverted like in the same tricycle.
And I'm just thinking, what?
And so you say, what exactly is taking place?
Here's what's taking place.
By practicing idol worship and idolatry, it's a way for people that are not godly to still feel spiritual.
It's a substitute.
Because getting saved is easy, but serving God is hard.
Waking up and reading the Bible every day is hard.
Not being covetous is hard.
Not being bitter is hard.
Not being prideful is hard.
And a lot of people are like, man, I can't do this.
So instead, you want to feel spiritual, though, so you bow down and worship in an idol even though you're ungodly and wicked.
And that's what people do all over the place.
And make no mistake about it, people that are really into this, you look at areas where idolatry is big.
And I don't want to say too much because this is a future sermon on the topic.
We're going to use it for the documentary.
But you look at areas filled full of sin, you will see idolatry mixed in with it.
You know that is the case.
Why is that taking place?
Because they're using a substitute to being godly.
Instead of being godly, you know what we're going to do?
It's very easy to do my little ritual in the morning and feel spiritual, and then I can do whatever I want.
But I'm still spiritual.
And that's what people do.
Now, there are people that are just deceived, and we can still reach them with the gospel.
There's a lot of really wicked people, not all reprobates, but people that are just very sinful people.
And they're not going to obey God's commandments.
They really don't care.
But their substitute to being spiritual is having a little idol.
And it makes them feel spiritual or emotional in the morning.
Acts 19, let's close up, verse 33.
And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward.
Alexander beckoned with a hand and would have made his defense onto the people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours,
cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Now, I don't personally believe that Alexander is one of the men with Paul.
I believe this is a Jew that is an unbeliever personally.
You can decide for yourself, but I think he's getting up to speak.
The crowd's going crazy, and this is, you know, the Jews are a big part of why this is going on.
But you've got Greeks and Romans worshiping a false god, so it's like another group of people.
And then all of a sudden the crowd is just going crazy, and it's like, whoa, we bit off more than we could chew.
We didn't expect this.
And for two hours, they cry out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Man, if I was Gaius or Aristarchus in this story, that would have been the longest two hours of my life.
It's like, I mean, part of you is probably just like, just make it quick.
You know what I mean? Just kill me quickly, because this is crazy.
For two hours, they're chanting.
I don't know how they stay entertained for two hours, but for two hours, they're chanting.
The crowd's saying all these things. They don't know what they're doing.
I mean, it's madness.
And you've got to realize, there are people that are government officials, and if chaos happens and a bunch of people get murdered, they're going to get in trouble.
So that's what actually ends this, because notice what it says in verse 35.
And when the town clerk had appeased the people, so he calmed them down, he said,
Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
Oh, so you're worshipping an image, a creature rather than a creator.
You're worshipping an image that fell down from heaven.
It's like, well, something fell from heaven. Let me just start worshipping it.
Right? But this town clerk is going to be responsible.
So he's like, I've got to calm down the crowd. This guy's probably very scared himself.
He's like, man, I've got to calm this down.
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, he ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly.
For ye have brought hither these men which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
Wherefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man,
the law is open to their deputies. Let them and plead one another.
I don't think this guy's a believer or on the side of Paul the Apostle, but he's like, oh, man.
And he becomes friends with Paul the Apostle during this moment saying, hey, you don't have a legal reason to do this.
These guys have done nothing wrong because he's worried for himself, you know, about what's going to take place.
And then it says in verse 39, but if he inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
For you are in danger to be called a questioner for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
I promise you that if you went later on this week to the Black Nazarene and tried to do some sort of weird street preaching thing or whatever,
it's like you're going to get destroyed. It's like I'm not recommending that. I wouldn't.
The crowd would go crazy. Who knows what would end up taking place? I mean, you get stoned to death.
It's very possible that could happen if you did that. You say, why?
Because you've got a bunch of people just rabidly following this tradition.
I mean, there's the people that are making money off this black Nazarene.
I've gone soul winning and you see the black Nazarene in people's houses like they really worship it.
I will say the people that are really into the black Nazarene seem to be very unreceptive to the gospel usually.
But you see this statue everywhere. People are making money off of it.
And then people are doing it because of tradition. Others are doing it because they hate God.
I mean, it's the most morbid and weird and disturbing and creepy and eerie looking statue you could possibly make of Jesus.
I think the person that made it absolutely hated God and intentionally did that personally.
Because I remember the first time I saw the statue, I'm like, it's scary.
You're going soul winning and it's in someone's house. It's scary.
I'm being serious. The first time I'm creeped out, I'm like, what is that?
I've seen some weird pictures in statues of Jesus, but that one takes the cake, my friend.
But the person who did it probably just hated God. There's also people that just get possessed by devils.
They touch that statue and they're like, man, I felt something I've never felt before.
And because of these four things, idolatry always has exist.
It exists today and it will exist even until the very end, until the millennial reign of Christ.
Let's close with a prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us just to apply this sermon to our lives.
God, help us to get our lost relatives that are following Catholicism and are into idolatry.
Help us get them saved. God, help us to get also other people that are into idolatry, whether it be Hindus or Buddhists,
wherever we run into God, help us get people saved and teach them the truth.
God, help them just to change their belief and and believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
In Jesus name, we pray this. Amen.
I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength in dearly small,
Shall the weakness watch and pray,
Frighten me, thine all in all.
Jesus paid it all,
All to be my own.
Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find,
Thy part and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spot,
And mend the heart of snow.
Jesus paid it all,
All to be my own.
Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find,
Thy part and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spot,
And mend the heart of snow.
Jesus paid it all,
All to be my own.
Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as under dew.
Then before the throne,
I stand in Him complete,
My soul to save,
My life shall still repeat.
Jesus paid it all,
All to be my own.
Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Amen.