Good evening, tonight we're in 2 Kings chapter 18. 2 Kings chapter 18, the Bible reads,
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that
Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty and five years old
was he when he began to reign. He reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was also Abi, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father
did. He removed the high places and break the images and cut down the groves and
break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. In front of those days the
children of Israel did burn incense unto it, and he called it Nehushtan. He
trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among
all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he claved to the Lord and
departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord
commanded Moses. The Lord was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went
forth, and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not. He smote
the Philistines even unto Gaza and borders thereof, from the tower of the
watchmen to the fenced city. It came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah,
which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser
king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three
years they took it, even the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of
Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria did carry away
Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan and in
the cities of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their
God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord
commanded, and would not hear them nor do them. Now in the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come against all the fenced cities of
Judah and took them, and Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to
Lachish saying, I have offended, returned from me, that which thou put is on me
will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed Hezekiah king of Judah 300
talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver
that was found in the house of the Lord and at the treasure of the king's houses.
And at that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of
the Lord, and from the pillars was Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and
gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and
Rapsurus and Rabshakeh and Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host
against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and when they were
come up they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool which is in
the highway of the foalers field. When they had called to the king there came
out to them Eliakim the son of Hezekiah which was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. And Rabshakeh said
unto them, speaking now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria,
what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? Thou sayest, but they are but
vain words, I have counsel and strength of the war, now on whom does thou trust
that thou rebellest against me? Now behold, thou trustest upon the staff
of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean it will go into his
hand and pierce it, so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. But if
you say unto me, we trust in the Lord our God, is not that he whose high places and
whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem,
ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Now therefore, I pray thee, give
pledges to the Lord the king of Assyria, I will deliver thee two thousand
horses, if thou be able to, on thy part, to send riders upon them. How wilt thou
return away from the face of one captain of the least of my master servants, and
put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Am I now come up without
the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord had said unto me, go up
against this land and destroy it. Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and
Shebna, and Joah, unto Reshikab, speak I pray thee to thy servants in the
Assyrian language, for we understand it, and talk not with us in the Jews
language in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rabshakah said unto
them, hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words?
Have they not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their
own dung and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakah stood and cried with
a loud voice in the Jews language, and spake, saying, hear the word of the great
king, the king of Assyria, thus saith the king, let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he
shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you
trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us, and the city shall not
be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Harken not to Hezekiah, for
thus saith the king of Assyria, make an agreement with me by a present, and come
out to me, and then eat every man of his own vine, and every one of his own fig
tree, and drink ye everyone the waters of his cistern, until I come and take you
away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and
vineyards, land of oil olive and of honey, that you may live and not die, and
harken not unto Hezekiah when he persuadeth you, saying, the Lord will
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all this land
out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and of
Arpod? Where are the gods of Seraphim, Vayim, Hina, and Ivah? Have they delivered
Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries that
have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver
Jerusalem out of mine hand? But the people held their peace and answered him
not a word, but the king's commandment was saying, answered him not. Then
came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their
clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabsheka." Let's pray, dear
Lord God, just thank you for this church you've given us, Lord, and just for your
word, Lord, and we thank you for this time we have to come hear the
preaching of your word, Lord. Please give pastor boldness and fill in with the
Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Kings chapter 18 this evening, and the title of my sermon
tonight is, excuse me, When Good Things Become Idols. When good things become
idols, of course we know that the Bible teaches that idolatry is sinful, it's
wicked, it's an abomination in the eyes of God, and automatically when we think
of idolatry, the automatic picture that we get is some false god, a molten or
graven image, made to depict a false foreign god that's not biblical, and how
the heathen are worshiping the false gods of the of this world, so on, but an
idol can really just be anything aside from that, it could really be anything
that you're placing before God, and we see that throughout the scriptures that
people can make an idol out of pretty much anything, but even good things. Now
here we see an example of that where the king Hezekiah, he's ruling over the
southern kingdom of Judah, and he's a great king, the Bible says that he does
that which is right in the sight of the Lord, if you look down at verse number
three, it says he did that which is right in the sight of the Lord according to
all that David, his father, did, and in his initial years of being the king there,
one of the first things that he does is he gets rid of the idolatry in the land,
I mean this is a very good thing, this is a very good policy that he's instituting,
before he does anything else, before he builds or conquers or defends, he's gonna
make sure that the nation is right with God, and one of the ways to get
right with God is get rid of the idolatry, obviously the previous kings had
idolatry there, they didn't take care of it, and so one of the first thing that he
does is he begins to remove them, look at verse four, he removed the high places
and break the images and cut down the groves, and I want you to notice this, and
break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, now what is he talking
about, well hold your place there and go to Numbers chapter 21, Numbers chapter 21,
so he's destroying the idols, the images, the high places, essentially areas where
people would congregate to worship false gods, offer up incense, things of that
nature, and one of the images that he destroys is the image, the brass serpent
that Moses had made, what is he talking about, well here in Numbers 21, we see
that the children of Israel are doing something that they're very good at,
which is complaining, right, they are murmuring, they're complaining, and
they're chiding with the Lord, look at verse five, it says, the people spake
against God and against Moses, wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die
in the wilderness, now this is a gross exaggeration, right, this is not true,
God didn't bring them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness, they are
dying because it's their own fault, okay, it's either because they're disobeying
the Lord, the wrath of God is coming upon them, but they are bringing this
railing accusation against Moses and against God, because essentially Moses is
in the stead of God, they're bringing up this railing accusation that, oh God just
wants to destroy us, he wants to kill us in the desert, he says, for there is no
bread, neither is any water, and our soul loathest this light bread, now they're
not only complaining, not only are they exaggerating, but they're actually not
even content with God's provision, because what is the light bread that
they're referring to, it's the manna that God supernaturally provided for the
children of Israel on a daily basis, they would wake up, go outside their tents, and
just see the manna there, they would collect it for them and their family,
they would be able to eat it, it had all the nutrients available to help them and
to fill them, so they're complaining, they don't have bread, they don't have any
water, which is not true, and their soul loathes the light bread that God is
supernaturally providing for them. Now what does God say? Well, verse 6, he
doesn't say anything, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died, so instead of just explaining and
kind of giving him a three-point outline, you know, he's just like, alright, and just
like all these serpents start popping up all over the nation of Israel, and these
serpents are biting them, and obviously they're venomous serpents, when it says
fiery, it means that they're venomous, okay, and obviously this is fatal, it's a
fatal wound that they could receive, many of them are dying because of it, and you
know, actions speak louder than words sometimes, right, and so the serpents are
biting them, God is making a point here, don't complain, don't murmur, be content
with such things as you have, especially if God has already provided for you in a
supernatural way, he saved you out of Egypt, he's providing for you, he's been
good to you, don't bring this railing accusation that's completely
exaggerating, saying that God's not taking care of you, when in fact he's
going over and above, he's making sure your sandals aren't wearing out, he saved
you and your family, things of that nature, so he sends these fiery serpents,
they're killing people, verse 7, therefore the people came to Moses and said, we
have sinned, by the way, the children of Israel can just flip at the drop of a
hat, one moment they're like complaining and then they're like, oh no, we sinned,
you know, this is just very unstable people, okay, says we have sinned, for we
have spoken against the Lord, and against thee, pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us, and Moses prayed for the people, now God in his
perfect foreknowledge knew that the children of Israel were gonna do this, he
knew that this was gonna come about, and he knew he was gonna send fiery serpents
among them, because he was gonna use this situation in order to picture a very
beautiful symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ in the future, look what it says
in verse number 8, it says, the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it, shall live, so this is a very miraculous thing that he's doing
here, he's telling Moses, I want you to make a brass serpent, put it on a pole,
and essentially when the serpent bites, apparently there's a window of time from
the time that they're bitten to the time they can look to the pole and they can
live, right, and what this is is a picture of sin, okay, a picture of sin, and we know
that the wages of sin is death, and obviously for some people that is paid a
lot sooner than others, some people die at a young age, some people, I mean many
people will die tomorrow, people have died today, and they're suffering the
consequences of sin in a place called hell, right, but God provides the
solution, and he says all you have to do for the children of Israel is make this
pole of a serpent, this brass serpent, and if they get bitten, all they have to do
is just look to the pole, and they will be healed, they will live, the venom shall
not proceed, and they will be completely made whole. Verse 9 says that Moses made
a serpent of brass, put it upon a pole, and came to pass, that if a serpent had
bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. Now go to John
chapter 3 if you would, John chapter 3, we're gonna come back to 2 Kings 18 in
just a bit, but go to John chapter 3 if you would. Now we know that this brass
serpent is a picture, it's a symbol of Jesus Christ because of the fact that
the New Testament tells us, okay, and not only the New Testament, but Jesus Christ
himself likens himself to that brass serpent that was lifted up in the
wilderness. John chapter 3 verse 14 says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. So just as the Israelite who was bitten by
the serpent had to physically look at the pole in order to be healed, well in
like manner, the person who's been struck by the serpent Satan, who has, you know,
committed sin, who is gonna suffer the consequences of sin, has the sting of
death upon them, so to speak, right? If they look into the Lord Jesus Christ
who's on the cross, they recognize that Jesus died for them, paid for their sins
on the cross, and that he resurrected, they shall live forever, okay? This is the
picture that's being put forth here. Now go with me if you would to go to
1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 if
you would, and let's look at verse 54. Now Jesus Christ is being represented by a
serpent, but that's because of the fact that the serpent is a symbol of sin, it's
a symbol of that which is somewhat evil, right? You would think to yourself, why is
it that Jesus Christ would be symbolically represented by a serpent?
Well it's because of the fact that he had made him to be sin who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And we know that Jesus
Christ, when he was on the cross, took upon him the sins of the whole world
upon himself, and he essentially became our substitute. He suffered the
consequences of sin that we deserve to pay, he brought it upon himself. The
Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54, so when this corruptible shall put on
incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that it is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The Bible says. And we can, you
know, go back to Numbers 21, and it's essentially tied that into what's being
said here, right? Because each and every one of us has been bitten by sin, so to
speak. We have the sentence of death in ourselves, we, you know, all of us at one
point or another our spirit was slain, we at one point were on our way to hell, but
when we believe on Jesus Christ, which is the only thing you can do to be saved, we
can now say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Why?
Because of the fact that salvation not only brought about eternal life in this
lifetime, but also it promises us a resurrected body as well, okay? He says,
The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, go back to 2nd
Kings 18, if you would. So, what's more important? Think about this. The brass
serpent, or just the picture that God used the brass serpent for? Of course, the
picture. Jesus Christ is more important. What it represents is more important. The
illustration that it's putting forth is more important, but what did the Israelites
do hundreds of years later? Let's worship the brass serpent. Oh, this brass serpent
was able to make people live if we looked upon it. Oh, shrine the brass
serpent and let's worship it. Look at 2nd Kings 18 verse 4. He removed the high
places and break the images, cut down the groves, and break in pieces the brazen
serpent that Moses had made. Why? For unto those days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtam. So, instead of recognizing
that God wanted the construction of this brass serpent in order to picture
something beautiful in the New Testament, they just, what do they do? They start
worshiping the brass serpent. You know, they took something good and made it
into an idol. The brass serpent wasn't bad. The brass serpent was a beautiful
symbol, a beautiful picture, beautiful illustration, and once they used it and
it was done with, they should have trashed it. It should have been just done
away with, they should have put it away, they should have buried it in the desert
and recognized this pictures something far more important in the New Testament.
And by the way, it pictures something for them even in the present because of the
fact that even then they can believe on the Lord and be forgiven and absolved of
their sins and have eternal life, right? The point that I'm making here is that
sometimes people can take a good thing and make an idol out of it.
Nuhushtan out of it. Take the brazen serpent, begin to worship it when that
was not the original intent of the brazen serpent. Go to Judges chapter 8, if
you would, Judges chapter number 8. Let me give you another example of this
principle. The title of the sermon is When Good Things Become Idols. When Good
Things Become Idols. What's another example? Well, how about the golden ephod,
right? What is the golden ephod? It's essentially associated with the garments
of the high priest in the Old Testament. And when the high priest would put on
this golden ephod, it was often associated with them teaching the Word
of God, fulfilling the duties in the office of a priest, prophesying the Word
of God, teaching the Word of God, receiving instructions from the Lord. This
was the connotation that the golden ephod had when the high priest would put
it on. So Israel had this understanding that this particular golden ephod or the
ephod that the high priest wore was associated with religious actions,
religious practices, right? It was a good thing in the Old Testament that the high
priest wore this. This was what God instructed them to do. He commanded them
to put on the golden ephod. But then what do we see later on? The children of
Israel begin to make their own golden ephod and actually begin to worship the
golden ephod, okay? Look at Judges 8 verse 24. It says,
And Gideon said unto them, I would desire request of you that you would give me
every man the earrings of his prey, for they had golden earrings, because they
were Ishmaelites. Now, I don't know, every time I see in the Bible people making a
collection of earrings, golden earrings, I just have a feeling like idolatry is
right around the corner, right? I mean, this is what essentially Aaron did, right?
He's like, put it on, then they made a golden calf. And Gideon is a righteous
man doing righteous exploits, but he's requesting that everyone brings their
golden earrings from their prey, the people they defeated. Verse 25,
And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did
cast there in every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden
earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of
gold, beside ornaments and collars, purple raiment, that was on the kings of Midian,
and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And I want you to notice this,
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah, and all
Israel went thither, a whoring after it. That doesn't sound good. Going a whoring
after an ephod doesn't mean they're worshiping God. Going a whoring after
something is a word that the Bible uses in the Old Testament to describe
idolatry, okay? For example, when the Bible, when God would often preach against or
have the prophets preach against the children of Israel, he would say, you know,
you have the forehead of a whore. He would say, you and your whoredoms. He
would talk about their whoredoms and them being a whore. And the reason he
would use that is because they're committing spiritual adultery by
worshiping false gods and forsaking the Lord God, right? So when it says that
they're going a whoring after the ephod, they're not using it for righteous
religious practices. They're obviously idolizing the golden ephod that Gideon
made. It says, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house? They took
something good and made an idol out of it. Go to Judges 17, if you would. Judges
17, and obviously their justification is what? Well, this was used back in the day
to, you know, lead the children of Israel, teach them the Word of God, judge the
people. Therefore, it's justified to create our own golden ephod and worship
this. Well, you know, the priests existed in the Old Testament. That's why we have
priests today. It's a perversion of something that God instituted long ago
making an idol out of it. Look at Judges 17 and verse 1. It says, there was a man
of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, the eleven
hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee which thou cursed, and
spaketh 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. 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 from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a
molten image. Now, that's a contradiction, right? Because she's saying, I wholly
dedicated the silver unto the Lord, but then what does she mean? She's actually
making molten images graven images. So what is the principle that we can learn
there that's not a part of what I'm talking about here? Just because you call
something Jesus and put it as a statue doesn't mean it's dedicated unto the
Lord, okay? So you can set up images of Jesus, images of Mary, images of whatever
and say, well this is this I believe this to be Jesus, I believe this to be Mary, I
believe this to be Michael the Archangel or whatever, but you know in God's eyes
it's still a molten graven image and it's still idolatry, okay? Even if you
you're dedicating it as unto the Lord. It says, now therefore I will restore it unto
thee, verse four, yet he restored the money unto his mother. His mother took
200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder who made thereof a graven
image and a molten image and they were in the house of Micah. The man Micah had
a house of gods and made an ephod and a teraphim and consecrated one of his sons
who became his priests. So we see here that they take the gold, they take all of
the the precious metals there and they create an ephod, they create a teraphim
which is simply another word for an idol, and they consecrate one of his
sons to become a priest. They're just like, hey we'll make you a priest. Just
some random dude that's not qualified to be a priest, they make him a priest and
they are committing major idolatry. They're taking a good thing, the ephod,
they're taking a good thing, the office of a priesthood, and they are making it
idolatrous. Now why do they do that? Well look at verse six, in those days there
was no king of Israel but every man did that which is right in his own eyes, the
Bible says. If you don't have a standard by which to judge or to do certain
things, you know like a final authority for all matters and faith and practice,
then it's basically at your discretion what you think is right and what is
wrong. And because there's no king in Israel to tell them, hey that's called an
idol, hey a teraphim, there's a graven image that God is not pleased with, don't
do it, hey that's not an ephod, you can call an ephod all you want, you can call
that a church all you want, you can call that Jesus all you want, you can call
that godly all you want, but it's not it. It's an idol, then they wouldn't have
done it. But there's no king in the land to put them to shame and teach them that
this isn't right to do. Go to 1 Kings chapter 12, 1 Kings chapter 12, and it
kind of makes me think of the Bible itself, okay, because you know that we
esteem the Word of God as being authoritative, it's divine, this book that
I'm holding in my hand is a supernatural book, but we never want to become
idolatrous with the physical Bible itself, or take on a superstitious view
of the Bible, where you know we kind of view this like the Muslims view the
Quran or something, where it has to be at the highest point of the house, you know
you can't put it on the floor for whatever reason, you know you can use it
to ward off vampires, and if you have a Bible on your coffee table you're gonna
ward off the spirits, and if you put it by your bed or something, you're gonna
learn it by osmosis or something, like it literally has some sort of divine
ability to protect you. No, the divinity, the supernatural is within the content
of the Bible, it's in obedience to God's Word, not the physical Bible itself. Don't
take a good thing and make it an idol, amen, and you know a lot of fundamental
Baptist churches unfortunately are guilty of that, and it's so funny because
a lot of them, they're just like, you know, never put the Bible, never put
anything on top of the Bible, never put the Bible on the ground, but it's just
like, but did you read the Bible though? Like have you read it cover to cover
though? Are you obeying the Word of God? Are you a duo of the Word and not a hero
only? Well I haven't read it all the way through, then why go through all
this superstitious mumbo-jumbo of the physical Bible itself, where you're not
even esteeming the words of life that are found within the Bible? Don't take a
good thing and make an idol out of it. What's another example? Well think about
Bethel, okay? Bethel in the Old Testament when it's first mentioned means what?
House of God. It was a geographical location that was essentially described
as being the house of God, and this is where God met with Abraham and his
descendants, he called it the house of God, but over time it changed, right? Even
though Bethel remained the same as far as that geographical location, after a
while it wasn't necessarily an epicenter of worship, worshipping of
the true God, and in fact later on we know that Israel would end up dividing
from northern kingdom to southern kingdom, the northern kingdom would end
up worshipping false gods, the southern kingdom essentially stayed right with
God, they worshiped the Lord, but the northern kingdom did not, and
so when they were split, you have Jeroboam, who's ruling in the north, and he
has access to Bethel, okay? Look what it says in verse 26 of 1 Kings 12, and
Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If
this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall
the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of
Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon
the king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much
for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out
of the land of Egypt, and he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dam,
and this thing became a sin for the people who went to worship before the one,
even unto Dam. So he's trying to make a religion of convenience by placing these
idols in a place that has essentially a reputation as being a spiritually, a
spiritual geographical area. Bethel, everyone knows what Bethel means, it's
the house of God, but it's no longer the house of God, because the northern
kingdom, they're worshiping false gods. So they turn something good into an idol,
they're making Bethel seem as though it's of God, but there's a bunch of false
gods, there's calves, that's not, God's not with that, God's not in that program,
and here's the principle that we can learn from this, okay, because people
often, Christians especially, especially now, will often take a geographical
location and think that, oh man, there's just something really special here, and
what geographical location am I talking about? Israel, the Holy Land, but really
it's an unholy land, and God has nothing to do with Israel over there, the Bible
literally says that it's called spiritual Sodom and Egypt, there's
nothing spiritual about that, yeah, at one time it was spiritual, at one time it
was a great place where godly people were, at one time was a place where God
walked upon, right? The Lord Jesus Christ was there, but you know what happened?
Someone took a good thing and turned it into an idol, and you say, who's that
someone? Zionism. Making Christians think that somehow Israel is just this
supernatural land, and you know, oh you should go, when you go to Israel you just
get this really, you just get this feeling, you know, that's, you know, I
would just say that's probably demonic or something, you know, because here's the
thing, God's not in that, God has forsaken Israel, and that land over there, you
know, that claims to worship the God of the Bible, they don't believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, yeah, it's Bethel, but you know what, it's not the
Bethel of the Bible, you can call it Israel, but it's not the Israel of God,
you can say there's Jews there, but they're not Jews who are circumcised in
heart and in spirit, it's something that's completely different, but you know
what, Israel has capitalized on the Christian idolatry of Israel though,
oh come, you know, come to Israel with your church and give us your money, and
you know, come look at all the biblical sites or whatever, and just get, you know,
this is where Jesus was buried, and it's like, how do you know that though, I was
like 2000, you just found some random kid, why does it look so good, how is it
so preserved, and it is to sell you a piece of wood, this is part of the cross
of Jesus Christ, you know what I'm talking about, this is actually a piece
of the cross, but how many pieces have you sold though, you've sold enough
pieces to make an entire, you could, you probably sold enough pieces to make Noah's
Ark, but people buy into this stuff hook, line, and sinker, they ascribe a physical
geographical location as being something that's great, but you know what, they made
an idol out of Israel to the point where they just completely disregard what the
Bible says, they don't care what the New Testament says about it, folks don't make
a good thing into an idol, Christians have done this, okay, and you know, they
try to ascribe some sort of supernatural feeling of going into Israel, you know,
folks, if you want a supernatural feeling, you know, the Bible tells us that you
might just be a sensual person, devilish, Bible says that you're, it's a wicked and
adulterous generation to seeketh after a sign, because we walk by faith and not by
sight, the things that we should seek for in the spiritual matter should not be
perceived physically, but rather spiritually discerned with the Spirit,
okay, and look, God is more in local New Testament churches than he is in a
physical land called Israel, and so, you know, if you want to discern the presence
of God, go to church, if you want to discern the presence of God, read the
Bible, if you want to discern the presence of God, pray, right, you know, get someone
from the church to pray with you, where two or three of God's together in my
name, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the
midst, the Bible says, and if you agree together, you know, Jesus is with you on
that, you don't have to go to a physical place, a geographical place to, you know,
experience supernatural things, you can literally just open up the Bible
yourself, hear the Word of God, and this is Jesus, amen. Now, one of the reasons I
want to preach this is because of the fact that, you know, lately, especially
within the last week, a big thing that you see right now on social media is the
Shroud of Turin. This is a huge thing right now, once again. Now, what is the
Shroud of Turin? Well, the Shroud of Turin is essentially the cloth that people
claim was the cloth that wrapped Jesus when he was placed into the grave, okay?
How many of you have seen that image? Well, they look at the image, and it's just like a dead
guy, he's like, you guys know what I'm talking about? And they consider this like a
supernatural relic, they say, oh man, that's Jesus there, and that's what he was
wrapped in, you know, this man in 1354 claimed that it was the cloth of Jesus,
that that's what he was wrapped in or whatever, and it's a really big deal, but
the reason it's resurfaced in popularity is because of AI. So AI has taken the
image that's on the Shroud of Turin and created an image of the man
who supposedly laid on that shroud, okay? Not only that, but now they are, you know,
dating the Shroud of Turin to actually be about 2,000 years old. So hook, line, and
sink, for sure that's Jesus then, you know? That's what people are saying, and so
the Catholic Church is loving this stuff, they're like, we knew it, this is Jesus, but
let me explain to you, obviously none of us believe it's Jesus, but let me explain
to you for sure why it's not Jesus, okay? Number one is because of the fact that
the image on the Shroud of Turin has long hair, he looks like European or
something, and he has extremely long hair. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11,
1 Corinthians chapter 11, you say, are you denying that Jesus was wrapped in some
sort of linen cloth? That's not what I said, obviously he was wrapped in linen cloth,
the Bible talks about him being wrapped in linen cloth, the Bible kind of goes
out of its way to explain in some of the Gospels that he was wrapped in the
linen cloth, that's not debatable, we understand that, but don't take a good
thing and make it an idol, and really though whoever found it in 1354, they're
just doing it to make bank, okay? They're just kind of, you know, they're a snake
oil salesman that made the Catholic Church believe that that's some sort of
relic, and you know the Catholic Church is huge on this, by the way, when it comes
to these so-called relics, just a couple months ago in Orange County, they
supposedly had the hand of Jude, you know, it's just like this stiff hand, right? And
there's people coming from all over, you know, California, to just look at this
member that's been severed off the corpse of supposedly Jude, that's
some dude's hand, that's some random dude's hand, it's crazy, and you know
sometimes people, you think to yourself like, how can you guys buy into this
stuff, why is God allowing this? Well it's probably a joke to God, to go to a
particular church, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people congregate into
a church to look at a hand that they think belongs to Jude or something like
that, it's weird, and it's like, well you know, we got, there's examples in the
Bible of, you know, for example, Elisha and his bones were there, okay, throw a
corpse on the supposed hand of Jude and let's see if it comes to life then,
that's what happened to Elisha's bones, Elisha's bones, he died, they buried him,
it was only his bones, and then, you know, they were trying to bury this guy and
their enemies came and they took the corpse of the guy, they threw him
into the grave of Elisha, it touched the bones and the guy came back to life,
there is no relic today that can do that, and if it was a
supernatural relic that they possessed, why does it induce anything supernatural?
Instead you got this hand throwing a gang sign, covered in glass or whatever,
the only supernatural thing that's taking place there is that it's
able to deceive so many people, that's the only supernatural occurrence that
that hand is capable of doing, it's able to just amass the masses of deceived
people into thinking that that's the hand of Jude, but folks, you touch that
hand, you play with that hand, nothing's gonna happen to you, you touch the glass,
nothing's gonna happen because it has no power, okay, and you know what, Jude
still has his hand, you know, wherever his body is, they're still intact, he's in
heaven, just kind of like, he probably doesn't even know about that, you know,
once we get there and be like, do you know someone was out there saying that,
you know, they had your hand and they're worshipping your hand, he's gonna be
like, he's gonna take that hand that they thought they got and he's gonna face
palm, but the Shroud of Turin is just this relic that Catholics used to
worship and they think it has like divine ability or something like that,
but we know that it's not Jesus because of the fact that the image has long hair
and Jesus did not have long hair, that I know that's the most common image of
Jesus all over the world, but I hate to break it to you, no I don't hate, you know,
the reality is this, is that Jesus did not have long hair according to the
Bible, look at 1st Corinthians 11 verse 3, but I would have you know that the head
of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of
Christ is God, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered,
dishonor with his head, and then we explained this morning that a head
covering is not referring to a literal physical head covering, as far as like a
hat or a beanie of some sort, but rather the fact that they've grown out their
hair, so when a man has long hair, according to the Bible, he's dishonoring
his head, which is another way of saying he's dishonoring his authority, okay, so
when a man does that, he's actually dishonoring Christ, so are you trying to
tell me, because the head of Jesus Christ is who? God the Father, so basically what
you're saying that Jesus had long hair, he was essentially dishonoring God the
Father the entire time he was here, wrong, the Bible even says in the same chapter,
it is a shame for a man to have long hair, like what about the Nazarites, well
yeah, the Nazarites were permitted to grow out their hair until they fulfilled
their oath, but let me break it to you, Jesus was not a Nazarite either, he was a
Nazarene, not a Nazarite, two different things, I know they sound the same, verse
13 says, judging yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered
doth not nature, doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long
hair, it is a shame unto him, so right off the bat, you look at the Shroud of Turin,
you see that he has long hair and say, oh that's not Jesus though, because Jesus
would have cut his hair, because he did everything that honored and pleased the
God the Father, and if this man has long hair, that's an indicator that he's not
Jesus, that's why the pictures of Jesus are not Jesus, folks Jesus probably
didn't have blue eyes, flowing long hair, just this chiseled featured man,
this European, Caesar Borgia looking guy, that's not Jesus, Jesus was a Hebrew, he
was a Jew, okay, he looked, probably looked Middle Eastern, go to John 20 if
you would, John chapter 20, taking a good thing and making it an idol, okay, but let
me give you another reason why the Shroud of Turin is not biblical, look at
John 20 verse 1, this is the account of the resurrection, it says in verse number
1 of John chapter 20, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene, early
when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeeth the stone taken away from the
sepulchre, then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple,
whom Jesus loved and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the
sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him, Peter therefore went forth and
that other disciple came to the sepulchre, verse scooped, go down to verse
number 5, it says and he's stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes
lying, yet went he not in, then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into
the sepulchre, and seeeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was
about his head, not lying with linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place
by itself, so according to the New Testament account, he's not only just
wrapped in linen clothes, but he actually has a napkin wrapped around his head, so
that wouldn't jive with what the Shroud of Turin is, because according to them,
the Shroud of Turin, he was only wrapped in the linen cloth, which is why it
superimposes image, his bloody image supposedly, into the cloth, but here it
says that he actually had a napkin wrapped around, and then the linen cloth
was placed over, okay, now you show that to a Catholic, they won't care, because
they don't like the Bible, truth, facts, you can show them that and be like, no, it's
Jesus, you know, that's for sure Jesus, you know, that's the Shroud of Turin, and
that's Jesus Christ's image superimposed, you say, well then how do you argue the
fact that they've now determined that it's 2,000 years old, well did you know
people died 2,000 years ago other than Jesus? Did you know that? Did you know a
lot of people died and were wrapped in, you know, whatever linen cloths? There's
other people that died, and yeah, but this one though had, you know, the nails,
well let me just teach you something, people died 2,000 years ago of all
manner ways, a manner of ways, but especially of being crucified, did you
know Jesus wasn't the only person that was crucified? The Roman Empire crucified
a lot of people, and so there's plenty of people who have died with nail prints in
their hands and in their feet because of the fact that they were crucified by the
Roman Empire, and so, you know, sorry to break it to you, but not sorry, the Shroud
of Turin is some dude's snake oil pitch that someone ended up buying into and
are now propping it up as being some holy relic, you know, these so-called
relics have no power, they have no authority, and why are you taking a good
thing and making an idol out of it? Why are you emphasizing the brass serpent
more than the person that the brass serpent represents? Why are you
emphasizing the Shroud of Turin more than who's the one who was wrapped in
that linen cloth? Because let's just pretend for a second that it was
Jesus, which we don't believe that whatsoever. Who cares about the linen
cloth? How about the fact that Jesus is just no longer there? How about the fact
that he's not there, he's in heaven at the right hand of the Father, making
intercessions for us according to the will of God, but obviously we don't
believe that that's him anyways, and so people always do this, they make a good
thing, and they turn it into an idol. Go with me if you would to Matthew chapter
number six, Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter number six, the title is When
Good Things Become Idols, When Good Things Become Idols, and we looked at a
couple of examples, we looked at the brass serpent, we looked at Bethel, we
looked at the golden ephod, but then there's other practical applications to
this principle as well, because you know, think about this, money is a good thing.
Say why? Well because you pay your bills, you can use it to buy food, shelter, gifts
for people you love, it helps you to live a sustainable life. Money, the Bible
says, answereth all things, right? Money is a good thing, but you know what, some
people take money and they make an idol out of money, okay, and in fact this, once
they begin to make an idol out of money, the Bible actually calls it covetousness,
and the New Testament in Colossians chapter 3 verse number 5 says, says that
covetousness is also what? Idolatry. Why? Because when you worship the almighty
dollar and you place that before God, it's at that point has become something
preeminent before the Lord Jesus Christ, before God himself, and this is something
that is commonplace sometimes even amongst Christians. Look at Matthew 6
verse 19. This is God's, this is Jesus's financial advice for believers. He says,
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal. Now what is he saying? He's
teaching the basic principle that you should learn how to invest money, right,
because he's saying don't invest money on earthly things that will waste
away, right? Moth will eat your clothes, rust will destroy it, thieves can break
through and steal it, so that's a poor investment of the physical money that
you have in this earth. He says you should take that and invest it in the
eternal, because when you invest your resources in that which is eternal,
you'll never lose it. Moth and rust can't reach it, thieves can't break through and
steal it. It's essentially giving wisdom regarding investment of monetary wealth.
He says in verse 21, For where your treasure is, there will your harpy also. He goes on
to say, The light of the body is the eye, if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light. But if an eye be evil, the whole body shall be
full of darkness, if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is
thy darkness? What is he saying? He's saying that when a person has a single
eye, meaning they're not looking to possess many things, have much money, have
the will to be rich, what happens? Well then they're full of lights, okay? They're
walking in the light of God, they're living a life that's obedient to the
Lord, they are content with such things as they have, but if their eye is evil,
their whole body is full of darkness, meaning that, you know, they have the love
of money. It goes on to say in verse 24, No man can serve two masters, for either
he would hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one to
despise the other. Here's the context, ye cannot serve God and mammon. And what is
mammon? Money. So God is saying here, you need to be careful that money doesn't
become your master. Use money, but don't let it become your master. And you say,
well I'm not letting it become my master, but is it taking a preeminence over your
church attendance? Because, you know, anyone can easily say, well I'm making a
lot of money, I still love the Lord Jesus Christ, but how can you actually
measure that? Well, how about one way is, are you in church? Right? Because if
you're using Sundays to work, to make more money, to have more possessions,
because you just want to make more money, then money has now become your master,
because it dictates where you put your calendar, what you do during the week,
what you do at what hour. Money is telling you what to do, you're not
telling money what to do. And the Bible says, you cannot serve God and mammon. It
doesn't say anything about salvation here, by the way. It's just referring to, like,
who are you serving? Okay? And we know this is referring to resources, because
it says in verse 25, therefore I say to you, take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on,
is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment. Why do people
allow money to become their master? Because they're too worried about what
are they gonna eat, what are they gonna drink, what are they gonna put on, how are
they gonna pay the bills, and then not enough faith is being put in God for
these things. You understand? Go to 1st Timothy chapter 6. 1st Timothy chapter
number 6. See, money is a good thing, but sometimes people take money and make an
idol out of it. Sometimes people take a good thing of the resources and the
opportunity, and by the way, let me just say this, is that just because you have
an opportunity to make more money doesn't mean you should take it. Just
because you have a chance or an opportunity to make more money, first of
all, doesn't mean it comes from God. Just because you have a chance or an
opportunity to make an incredible amount of wealth doesn't mean you should seize
upon the opportunity to do so. And never make a hasty decision, by the way, of, you
know, oh man, I got this job opportunity, but the thing is, it's gonna require for
me to work every Sunday and every time I go to church or something like
that, and therefore I have to, but it's from God though. I know it's from God
because it's gonna, it's just require, it's an answer to prayer. Is it really an
answer to prayer though? Because does God answer prayers that conflict with your
spiritual disciplines and responsibilities? Absolutely not. And
here's the thing, here's my philosophy, and you don't have to adhere to this or
ascribe to this philosophy. Let me just say this, I'd rather be broke but be in
church than be rich and miss church. I'd rather be broke. You know, I'd just rather
have a minimal amount of money but I have the liberty to serve God and be in
church here preaching, be with the brethren, than have a lot of money and
not be in church, or be in church scarcely. And this is how you know if
money is becoming your master, is if at one point you're going to Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Thursday night, but now you're only going one out of those three.
Because eventually you're gonna scale that back too. Eventually it'll scale
back. And please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that if you miss church
you're just, you're just a slave to money or something like that. Obviously we know
sometimes you have jobs that it'll just say, hey sorry to do this to you but
we're gonna require for you to work on this Sunday or whatever, and you'll be like
all right, you know, but you know that I need to be in church, I'll do it this
Sunday, but whatever, you know. That's just, it happens sometimes. But you know
if it's just a consistent thing, or it's taking you out of the spiritual
discipline of being in church on a consistent basis, or you are seeking that
opportunity to miss church in order to make money, money's your master now. You
took a good thing and made an idol out of it. And here's the problem with this
is that people who are often enthralled by what money can do and are willing to
sacrifice spiritual disciplines for it, don't realize it's gonna cost them
more in the end than up front. Oh yeah you may get that raise, oh yeah you may
get a lot of money, but folks it's gonna cost you spiritual things of that which
money cannot buy or fix. You understand? Having your family in church, having them
grow out or grow up without having the knowledge of the Bible and the
discipline of being in church, that will affect them greatly and no amount of
money could ever fix that later on in the future. You can't buy their spiritual
disciplines for them. You cannot buy wisdom for them. You cannot buy
having biblical values and being in church for them. That's something that
you have to sacrifice in the front end by being willing to sacrifice the
monetary wealth of this world in order to put spiritual things first. Don't ask
me to repeat that because I can't. It was just like a mouthful, but you got it. What
am I saying? Don't let money be your master. And look, I think you can have
wealth and have spiritual disciplines. I think that's great. I mean I truly
believe you can be a wealthy person and still be in church, still read your
Bible, still win souls to Christ. It is 100% doable. I think God can make that
happen for a lot of people, but I think people rather just say, well I think I'd
rather just like sacrifice church attendance, sacrifice X, Y, and Z in order
to make more money. Money's becoming your master. Look what 1 Timothy 6 verse 6
says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. So do we need more money? Not
necessarily. You know what we need is more contentment with what we have. And
here's the wonderful thing about contentment. Here's what's great about
contentment, okay? Whether you're broke or whether you're rich, you'll just always
be happy. If you're rich, you're happy. If you're broke, you're still happy. Why?
Because you have contentment. Now when you add godliness to that contentment,
godliness helps to preserve your contentment, because godliness helps you
to realize that the most valuable thing that you can have is the eternal, right?
You can learn in whatsoever state you're in therewith to be content, because I can
do all things to Christ which strengthens me. And we end up viewing
times of scarcity with value, because when there's times of scarcity, you're
not making a whole lot of money. Maybe you're going without. You know this is a
test from God. This is an opportunity for God to show himself strong on my behalf,
and I can be content with the minimum. I can be content with just a little bit. I
can be content with not having as much. Why? Because now you have godliness
coupled with contentment. But what if you have envy, covetousness, greed? I mean
those things will destroy you. He says godliness with contentment is
great gain, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can
carry nothing out. Having food and raiment let us therewith be content. Now
can we agree that you and I have more than just food and raiment? And in fact a
lot of us have more, we have more food than we know what to deal with, okay?
Right? We have a lot of raiment. We have closets full of raiment. But just on top
of that we have way more than just food and raiment, so we have more to be
content about. He's just saying just having the basics you should be a
content person. He says in verse 9, he contrasts it, but they that will be rich
fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts
which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money, by the
way this is a misquoted verse amongst many people, right? They'll often say
money's the root of all evil. Wrong. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Making money is not a bad thing. It pays the bills. It helps you to live a
satisfied life, right? You could be a blessing to others. And by the way, having
wealth is not a bad thing either. It'd be a bad thing for pastors to be
wealthy, but for the regular church members that's not a bad thing at all,
okay? He's just saying if you love money then that is the root of all evil. It
says which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. What is it saying? It's saying you better
keep your money loving self in just having the right perspective about money
not allowing money to master you, to reign over you. You better check your
heart. And this is something I have to constantly preach over the years because
sometimes Christians they just get off kilter, they get off course, they start
making unbiblical decisions, they start making hasty decisions and it's always
based upon how much money they're making. Oh man, I'm going through a tough time
right now. I'm gonna move to Maryland. I just heard up a great offer over there.
We're gonna go. We're leaving next week. It's just like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow
down. Why don't you like pray about it first? Why don't you just give it some
time first? Why don't you ask around first? You know, never make just a hasty
decision based upon an immediate trial. When you have an immediate trial before
seeking the physicians, seek after the Lord, amen. Pray about it. Say, Lord, I need
your help. I'm going through a financial situation here but obviously you know
that I'm going through it and so please show yourself strong on my behalf.
Provide for me and increase my faith in you because I know you can, okay? And
here's a good prayer. Please help me not to love money. Please guard my heart from
loving money because I don't want to destroy my life. I don't want to destroy
my family's life. I don't want to make an unbiblical decision that can result in
the spiritual destruction of my family. That's an important prayer, amen.
You know, that's something to take into consideration when we're dealing with
you know difficulties and you know what? You might be in here like, well I'm not
struggling financially. I just want to make more money. Well, there's nothing
necessarily wrong with that as long as you're keeping the first thing first. As
long as you're seeking God first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
these things shall be added unto you. God rewards a hard-working man. He provides
witty inventions and prudence to the person who's laboring. He allows us to
enjoy the fruits of our labor. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm
just saying sometimes people can't handle a promotion. Sometimes people can't
handle certain job opportunities. Sometimes people cannot handle an excess
of money. They don't know how to handle it. So it's better sometimes to just have
a dinner of firms where love is than a stalled ox and hatred they're with. You
understand what I'm saying? Don't make a good thing an idol. Don't take money, that
which God has blessed you with, for your you know your your bills, your food, your
family, and then make an idol out of it because now you're successful. Now as if
you could just work on a Sunday, now if you could just you know take some time
off to just focus on your business, focus on this or that, and then you're just
forsaking the things of God. You're forsaking that which got you to that
point. It's nonsensical my friends. Listen to me folks, don't take that which led
you to this point of success to achieve success and just forsake it to just make
more money. And be wise as in you know take advice. Someone's giving you
advice in our church you know and they're telling you hey forget that job.
You know that's not worth it. Just live lowly for now and maybe God will bless
you with something later. It's not worth sacrificing church and getting your
family out of church. You know listen to that advice. You know it's better to
listen to that godly advice than suffer the consequences of not listening and
regretting it later and having this thing of I wish I would have listened. I
want to reduce the amount of times I say I wish I would have listened. I want to
reduce the amount of times that I say man I regret making that decision. One of
the greatest ways to do that is just adhere to advice and counsel. Okay so oh
man well you know if you're saying that I can't like go after certain
opportunities, I'm not saying that. I'm saying if the opportunities take you out
of church that's an indicator that it's not from God. What am I supposed to do?
Well look at verse 11. But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, the Bible says. Well
how's that gonna make me money? How's seeking after righteousness and godliness?
That doesn't make anybody money. Yeah you sound like a fool because anybody who's
read the Bible enough recognizes that resources and blessings come from God
when we situate ourselves in a position to be blessed of the Lord and the way we
situate ourselves is by seeking the things of God, seeking godliness, seeking
that which pleases the Lord. And folks it's necessary for us to seek those
things because it keeps our heart in the right place too. It keeps us from loving
money. All right I spent a lot of time on that but it was necessary. You know you
don't want to allow your heart to become lifted up and
forgetting the Lord when he's multiplying your resources, multiplying
your flocks, multiplying your money. The last thing you want is to forget the
Lord when those things take place. Okay go with me if you would to Matthew
chapter 10 and I'm pretty much done because I went over time here. Let me
just say two more things. We're talking about making good things idols okay and
I've already kind of mentioned this point so I'm not gonna belabor it but it
is necessary to mention and that is animals okay. Don't take a good thing and
make it an idol. You know hey we get it when our oxen are the crib is clean but
much increases by the strength of the box great okay. You know you know
sometimes animals are useful, pets are useful, things of that nature are useful
but don't make the ox an idol okay. Don't make the pet an idol. Don't allow those
things to become something that will keep you from serving God you know and
and it does merit talking about that because you know in the day and age in
which we live people have a tendency to put animals before their spiritual
responsibilities sometimes okay and so I'm all for animals don't get all mad at
me because I'm preaching against your little you know that little animal you
that that godless creation that that God didn't make okay God didn't make a
chihuahua folks okay let's just be honest here can we can we just be 100%
honest a chihuahua was not made from God that is man's creation there okay you
know someone you know someone basically took a rat and I'm just kidding and mix
it with the DNA of a dog and you know I'm just kidding I'm kidding I'm saying
but I am not kidding about the fact that people make those thing idols okay
they often will make that an idol and they'll put it before they'll even like
call it their children I said that this morning and that's that's not right my
friends animals have their place in this world and you know they can offer a lot
of joy and and and fun and you know I guess companionship of some sort but at
the end of the day people are more important and God Church Bible are far
more important than those things okay here's the last thing I want to say is
that because we're talking about making good things idols and you know what
becomes an idol sometimes in the life of Christians family family can often
become an idol to people you know it's good to be family oriented you know I'm
all about the family I love my wife my children they mean the world to me amen
but I love the Lord Jesus Christ more though and you know what my wife does
she has no beef with that because as long as I love the Lord Jesus Christ I'm
gonna be a really good husband to her okay and as long as long as I keep
serving and loving the Lord Jesus Christ I'm gonna be a good father as long as I
keep putting Jesus before my family guess what my family will will
experience a great husband and a great father you understand but sometimes
people become so family oriented they're so conservative regarding their family
values that sometimes even spiritual disciplines suffer because of that and
this is very common amongst the like the crunchy crowd you'll see this a lot with
these homesteaders they claim to be Christian and you know they'll they'll
claim to be Christian but then they're just like yeah we just stopped going to
church though because God is everywhere and we can worship God everywhere and
so we're all about the family and homeschooling so they'll have all of the
benefits of Christianity minus the Christianity you know what they've done
they made the family an idol and that's not right my friends you know thou shalt
have no other gods before me Jesus Christ is the preeminent one and you
should not allow fan well it's like well you know Sundays we just you know we
have something special going on and so we're just not gonna go to church
planning some other day use the the Lord's Day to serve the Lord Jesus
Christ use the Lord's Day to serve the Lord who gave you that family use the
Lord's Day to serve the God who gave you your spouse who's who's keeping the
hearts of your loved ones pumping amen who's allowing them to breathe and
blessing them he deserves at least one day out of the week to do so okay and so
don't make your family an idol and they will families far more important than
church and obviously we're not saying that don't make the church and I know
either what we're saying is this is that the way you serve God is by going to
church sometimes because the church is where believers are being sent out of
the local New Testament Church to preach the gospel to be trained to be perfected
in the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ that's
what the Bible says so that's a great way that's a great indicator if someone's
serving God is if they're in church can we really say that someone is serving
God if they're not in church consistently no not according to the
biblical standard don't make family an idol look what it says in Matthew 10
verse 37 this is Jesus speaking he that loveth father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me ouch no not out that's amen to that and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me man you would almost think that Jesus
his name is like jealous or something oh wait it is you know Jesus isn't the only
name that he has with the J he's also his name is also jealous and even say
he's saying there if you love your family more than me you're not worthy of
me you know what that means God wants us to always have a bias for him against
everyone else and obviously we don't have to choose between family but
sometimes you do you know you may have grown up with it in a family that's very
family oriented very like a family nucleus where everyone is just you see
each other all the time and it's just always you and your family and you know
that's great because that's that's that's a missing environment that people
don't know about but you know if that's taking you away from the things of God
why well because Matthew 10 37 says it that's what it says who's more important
Jesus or your family hopefully you could have both but you know what not everyone
has both you say what about you you know you got your family in church yeah but
the vast majority of my family actually they're somewhere else though and I had
to choose between Jesus and my family I have to choose between Jesus and friends
Jesus and my family and just say hey Jesus is more important serving God with
my life is more important than having a barbecue on Sunday to serve you know to
do whatever and just forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is you know I'm just gonna be in church no matter what and so
that's my choice but it's based upon a biblical principle here that says that
you know what in order for us to be worthy of Jesus Christ we need to love
Jesus more than our father and mother more than our son and our daughter and
don't look at me and say well I've asked kind of cultish that's what Jesus said
he's God that's what he requires and that's correct that means we favor God
and the things of God even over our fan our own family okay now again most of us
in here some of us don't have to make that choice you know I don't have to
missus I don't have to make that choice with my wife or my kids I don't care
what you guys say I'm serving God for the rest of my life you know Sarah get
out of my face with that you know I'm gonna be in church you can do whatever
you want I'm not you know they're coming to church with I'm the pastor so if that
wasn't the case I would not be the pastor obviously okay the point that I'm
making here is that the fact that you need to keep the first preeminent one
the first preeminent one and don't make your family an idol okay plan things
around Sunday not on Sunday well Sunday is the only day that I got off I mean
then it should be dedicated unto the Lord and who's to say that you can't make
come into church an activity right and so you know the sermon is when good
things become idols don't allow money to become an idol don't allow family to
become an idol don't allow these good things that God gives to us so we can
serve God more effectively to become an idol to the point where just forsake the
things of God because we want to indulge in the blessings of God at that point
he's gonna cut off those blessings and we're not gonna enjoy them let's pray
father we thank you so much for your word and Lord help us to continue to
make the right decisions as Christians and recognize that sometimes even good
things can become idols and the things that you've blessed us with whether it's
resources its children it's a wonderful spouse it's success sometimes it's just
success and achievements that can become an idol unto us I pray that you'd help
us to recognize Lord that we need to keep you as the preeminent one and I
know this is not a popular truth for many but it's the truth and so people
need to hear it and I pray that we would we would receive with meekness the
we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen
please turn your songbooks to song number 220