(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, and I'm going to be preaching against idolatry here today. And as I said, normally the Feast of the Black Nazarene, this would be the day that they celebrate it, and I believe it's pretty much canceled for this year. But it's good to preach against idolatry just from time to time, because it is a common theme in the Bible, but also because we live in a very idolatrous country. And so I want to tie this sermon into the false philosophy series. And when it comes to the false philosophy series, what I've been doing is focusing on a false philosophy, which is kind of like a guiding principle for people in life where they have the wrong mindset. When it comes to idolatry, the false idea is that somehow an idol is sort of like a mediator to get close to God. And basically, not that it is God, but it acts like a mediator that we have to go to that idol. Okay? Now, first off, point number one is this. When it comes to idolatry and idols, idols are make-believe. They're not real. They're fake. They're imagination. There's nothing to it. It's make-believe. It says here in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1, Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered and sacrificed unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. We understand that all these idols are just false representations of gods. They're just praying to devils. It's fake. It's not real. It's metal. It's a piece of wood that's painted. It's nothing. It doesn't matter if you paint eyeballs on it. It doesn't make it any more real, whether it's eyeballs or not, right? It's just, it's fake. It's completely make-believe. There's absolutely nothing to it, okay? For example, when you see this picture of Jesus Christ, the black Nazarene, look, if you saw this idol in person and you smashed it with a hammer and destroyed it, you don't have to worry about some curse coming upon you. Something bad is going to happen to me because there's some sort of power in it. Because in this chapter, we actually see that people can be a bit confused on idolatry. And see, somebody might say, well, I don't believe in idols. I think they're bad. I think they're wrong. I think they're worshipping devils. But they also might have a wrong view and think that somehow there might be some evil magical curse against them or something by destroying it. That's not true either. It's a piece of wood. It's nothing. You don't have to worry about it. You can destroy that, and nothing's going to happen to you. And the Bible says this, that we know that an idol is nothing in the world. And when it comes to someone who's spiritually strong, that knows the scriptures, we know an idol is nothing. It's absolutely nothing. It's completely fake. It's absolutely nothing. Okay? But then it says this in verse five, for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there be gods many and lords many. And by the way, when it comes to the Mormon church and churches like this, they use verses like this to try to say there's multiple gods, it says, whereas there be gods many and lords many. Well, the context is obviously false gods. The context is idols. I mean, if this is your big argument, right? Because what it says is there be that are called gods, right? Fake, not real. We're talking about idols. We're talking about worshipping devils, right? They're not real, okay? This is called a god by some people, but it's fake. It's not real. Now, in our country, it's a bit different because we are a Christian country, so Christians generally won't say that they're worshipping idols, but in countries like India, they will just openly say they worship idols. They don't deny that, and they will say that, hey, this is my god or whatever that I pray to. The Catholics pretty much do the same thing. They would just deny that, even though they pretty much are doing the exact same thing. Verse number six, but to us, there is but one God. So the us that are saved is what he's saying. See, there are called gods that the world worships, but to us that are saved, there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we by him. So to us that are saved, there is one God. Now the world worships a lot of different gods. A lot of these religions have a lot of different gods they go to, and they want to pray to this god for this thing, and pray to this god for this thing, but to us, we know there's one God, okay? And we know that any image or idol that's made is absolutely nothing, right? If there was a statue of Jesus, a statue of Mary, a picture of Jesus, if you burned it and destroyed it, you wouldn't have to worry about God being mad at you. There's nothing to it. It's absolutely nothing, right? It's a fake representation. It's make-believe. It means absolutely nothing, okay? How be it, there is not in every man that knowledge. For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. Now the Bible's actually going to describe a couple different groups of people, and it doesn't really say that either side is really right in this in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. I believe you're seeing that both sides are wrong, actually. And so of course the unsaved world has a messed up view on idols and things such as that, but at the same time if somebody gets saved and they come out of an idolatrous background, there might be a little bit of time for them to fully grasp these things, right? I would not feel bad about destroying a statue of Jesus. I would feel good about it, right? But if somebody just got saved, even though they don't believe we should pray to that idol and worship that idol, they might still feel weird about it because they might feel like they're doing something wrong, and in their conscience they might actually feel guilty. Not that they think that we should pray to an idol, but if somebody's been a Catholic their whole life and they just got saved, they might feel kind of weird about doing something like that. They might have an in-between position where it's just like, I'm not going to pray to this anymore but I wouldn't feel right destroying it. Now here's the thing, I would have no problem destroying an idol. I think it would be a good thing. At the same time, I wouldn't want to try to force someone who doesn't, you know, have those things figured out yet to do something where they sin against their conscience because then they'd be doing something wrong even though they're not really doing anything wrong. But because in their conscience they don't have this figured out, they would be doing something wrong, okay? So keep that in your mind as we're reading through this chapter here, and we'll look at a lot of different places as well, and it says, and their conscience being weak is defiled. And so some people, you know, they can get saved but they don't fully grasp these things yet and fully understand this, and with conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol. Verse 8, But God commended us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. So the idea is though, you know, we can basically eat whatever and whether you eat it or not, it doesn't make you better or make you worse, okay? Now this is not directly in relation to any food in general, but it's talking about eating things sacrificed unto idols. Now it is wrong for us to eat food sacrificed unto idols, and we'll talk about that, and you could get confused if you just looked at this chapter. But in this chapter we're looking at one person who basically says, you know what, I can eat whatever and the idol's fake, so if it's offered to an idol it doesn't mean anything, I can just eat it anyway. And then there's another person who has a bit of a messed up view on idols because perhaps they just got saved, or perhaps they're around people that are, you know, have wrong views and things such as that. So these are the two groups of people. Now in our country it's not exactly like this, it's a little bit different, but just some basic examples. You know what, there's Hindu temples where they have a lot of gods, and they literally will offer food unto idols. You know, I've been to plenty of places in the US where, you know, places that are run by various Buddhist people, and then they have food that they offer to their idols in the morning, and then maybe they sell it later on during the day or something like that, right? And then they have other food they just leave out for the idols and they throw away at the end of the day, but they do a lot of weird things like this where they're basically giving food to these idols and things such as this. Or perhaps there would be a religion that would have, you know, something offering free food or something, but they're, you know, offering it to idols or praying unto a false god. You know, I know with the religion of Sikhism, you know, they basically offer free food and they're probably giving prayers to false gods and saying, hey, anyone's welcome to partake in this food, but then they're praying to a false god and then that's attached to them praying to a false god and then you've got a problem there. And look, religions around the world will do things like offer free food and things such as that, but then they'll dedicate it to their gods, okay? Now there's nothing wrong with the food itself, but when you're dedicating it to a false god and giving it unto an idol, then there's something wrong with this, okay? Now it says here, now here's the thing, some people would look at the idol and have a messed up view on that and say, well hey, it has some sort of power, I don't feel comfortable with this. But then there would be the other extreme saying, it doesn't matter what we eat, it doesn't matter what the idol is, so I'll just go into a Hindu temple and eat the food because it's food, the idol's fake. Both those views are wrong, right? Verse number 10, for if any man see thee which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And so an example would be if a Catholic church here said, hey, we're offering free food, and then they dedicate it onto an idol beforehand, and then all of a sudden they say, okay, anyone's welcome to eat. Well, I mean, if you walk into that temple and people see you do that, what's gonna take place is somebody who has a messed up view on idols and doesn't fully have this figured out inside of their mind and their conscience, they would say, well, if I saw Brother Francis doing this, then I guess I'll do it, because he's been saved longer than me. I saw Brother Stuckey do it, it must be okay, right? People are gonna follow you whether you realize it or not. That's why we need to be very careful that we don't just force people to do the same things we do if they don't fully have these things figured out, because if they think it's wrong, it's gonna be wrong for them, right? Now this is not an example, though, where it's okay. It's not okay to walk into a temple and eat the food, but the Bible's saying, hey, don't get people to just follow you into doing something when in their mind they don't have this fully grasped or figured out. This is kind of hard to understand coming from the US, because idols don't really exist. So I've always known idols are fake. But if somebody's been a Catholic for 25 years and they get saved, you know what? They probably would still feel weird with idols and not fully understand this. They might not feel comfortable with smashing every false idol in this country. Now biblically that would be a good thing, but they might not feel that way because they just got saved. And so it says here in verse 11, and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died. But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. So the context of this chapter is to basically care for other brethren that are newer in the faith and don't do things that will cause them to sin. Now if you were to just take this chapter alone, you might think it's okay to eat food offered onto idols. But that's not what the Bible teaches, okay? Go to 1 Corinthians 10, I'll prove this to you. It's just giving an example of something that somebody might do and then others might follow you in doing it even though they don't feel comfortable or right about it because they have a messed up view on the idol. They don't have this fully figured out yet. It doesn't mean it's okay to eat something offered on the idol zone. I'll prove this to you in 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 19. What say I then that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things with the Gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God. But not that you should have fellowship with devils. So look, the idol is nothing, okay? It's wood. It's metal. It's absolutely nothing. The food offered to idols is nothing. It's just meat. If it's a piece of chicken before they pray into a false idol, it's still a piece of chicken. That's not saying it's okay to eat it though, and I'll prove this to you in this chapter. But it's still a piece of chicken whether or not they pray to an idol or not. Nothing changed in that chicken. It didn't just become filled full of something, right? It's still chicken. It's the same exact thing, okay? Verse 20. But I say that the things with the Gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. And what it's saying in verse 23 is just a simple concept that we have liberty to make our choices. It doesn't mean that everything we do is not going to be sinful. I mean, we're allowed to do things that are sinful. Everything is within our power to do. We're allowed to do things. God gives us freedom. He gives us liberty to make our choices. But not all things are actually expedient or edifying to us. Right? You have liberty today to go home and get drunk if you want. That doesn't mean it's a good thing for you, but you do have that ability to do that. Verse 24. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatever is sold in the shambles, that is eat, asking no question for conscience sake. The shambles is an old-fashioned makalumang word for basically a butcher's house where they're going to sell meat. Basically, if you're going to buy meat at the palenque or at a meat shop or something like that, you don't have to ask them ahead of time whether or not it's been dedicated to a false god. You go to the grocery store. You go to the palenque. You don't have to stop and ask them, hey, is some of this going to be used for the Eucharist? Some of this bread or crack or wafer or whatever, is this going to be part of that? Or has it been prayed to a false god? You don't have to ask it and worry about that like you've sinned or done something wrong. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and ye be disposed to go. So an unbeliever basically invites you to a meal and you decide to go. Maybe your boss invites you over. Maybe for example you have a Hindu boss or Buddhist boss or a Muslim boss and then they invite you over to eat and you decide to go. You say, okay, you know, I'll go over, I'll be respectful, I'm trying to get him saved or whatever. Then it says this, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. So if they basically feed you food, you don't have to be worried and say, well, my boss is a Hindu, who knows if he prayed to a false god, right? You don't have to worry in your conscience and feel like you might be doing something wrong. But if any man say unto you this is offered and sacrificed unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it and for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So the Bible is very clear in verse 28, if you find out that food has been offered to a false idol, don't eat it, right? So what the Bible is saying is you don't have to worry about if you're committing some sort of sin or you've done something wrong if somebody invites you to eat food, right? Eat the food, don't worry about it, you don't have to ask them. It would be a bit rude if somebody invites you over to eat and then you start giving them all of these questions, did you pray to a false god, you know, where did you buy this food, right? Just eat the food. But if they say, hey, you know what, I prayed to Shiva, you know, with this food and offered and dedicated to them, then in a respectful nice way you'd say, oh, actually, I apologize, you know, I can't eat this because according to the Bible, since I believe in a different faith and it's dedicated to a false god, of course you would still be respectful about it, you don't want to be rude, but if that's the case, then of course don't eat the food, right? So look, if food has been offered to an idol or there's some sort of false religion attached to it and they're praying to a false god and you know that, don't eat the food. But if your neighbor comes over and says, hey, here's some cookies I got for you, you don't have to start asking them, well, wait a minute, you know, like, were any of these ingredients, right? You know, I mean, it's common sense because just use an example that's kind of similar, you know, a lot of the places we go to eat and restaurants we eat at, sometimes they use their donation money for bad things or whatever, you know, things that we wouldn't support and stuff like that, it's just like we don't have to stop at every single restaurant and say, okay, I'm thinking about going to Burger King, let me spend 30 minutes on my cell phone to find out if they've done something bad with this money or whatever. It's like if you want to do that, you're welcome to, but the Bible's saying you don't have to go through all those extremes, right? It's like you're looking to get something to eat, it's like, you know what, just stop at whatever car and dairy and you know what, it's possible that some of the food that you've bought in the past has been dedicated to a false god. In fact, I would almost guarantee it here in the Philippines that to some degree somebody has been using that food and dedicating it to a false god in the mornings, but you have no idea about it. The Bible says it doesn't matter because the food's nothing, the idol's nothing, but if you know it's been dedicated to a false god, don't be partakers with devils because they're preying on the devils whether they realize it or not. So in a way, the idol is nothing, but in a way it is something because it's basically like a devil, right? Go to 1 Corinthians 12, hopefully that makes sense and I think that's just kind of common sense. Even without scripture I think every one of us would have already known that, that eat whatever food, no problem, but if you find out it's dedicated to a false god or something like that then obviously you shouldn't. But as I said, there's not in every man this knowledge and of course that's true with the unsaved world, but at the same time if somebody just gets saved it does not mean that they've got this fully figured out. I mean you see examples in the Bible of people that get saved that still have idols and then a couple years later and then they have like people that have magic books and stuff like that and a couple years later they get rid of those things, right? It's like just because somebody gets saved doesn't mean they have full comprehension of all of these things yet. I mean a lot of this stuff's new to them. First Corinthians 12 verse 1, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away onto these dumb idols. Now what does it mean by a dumb idol? Well dumb is not referring to your intelligence level. It's referring to your ability to speak. You know the expression deaf and dumb, meaning you can't hear and you can't speak? So when it's saying a dumb idol it's saying that the idol doesn't say anything, right? You got a piece, I mean this morbid picture of Jesus Christ or morbid idol doesn't say anything, right? It's a dumb idol and this is what the Bible's saying. It's just like, you know, these idols that people are worshiping, they can't hear, they can't speak, it's just a piece of wood, right? It's like people feed the idols, they give those idols a bath, they keep them clean. It's like well why can't they keep themselves clean? Because it's nothing. It's make-believe. It's fake, right? It's a dumb idol, it doesn't speak. It's nonsense. It's completely fake. It's not real. There's nothing magical about this idol. Now this is very obvious to us and yet in years past where there wasn't, you know, the whole coronavirus, you'd have a million people right around Quiapo Street that would try to touch this idol. They thought it would give them good luck. I mean people would literally come to Luzon and then come to Metro Manila and come to Quiapo Street from another province or even sometimes, you know, other parts of the world and OFW would plan this time of year to try to get healed because they thought there was some sort of magical power in this idol. It's make-believe. It's fake, right? Now turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2. And you know another reference that talks about how you should not eat things offered onto idols is talks about the woman which it basically refers to as Jezebel in Revelation 2. And what she did, not only to do service to commit fornication, but to eat things offered which are sacrificed on idols. So that's a bad thing according to the Bible. But point number one is just simply that any idol that's out there is just make-believe. I mean it doesn't matter whether it looks like an accurate picture or not, right? Like there's somebody in India like eight months ago that made an idol of Donald Trump. Donald Trump was his God. He made an idol of Donald Trump and I'll be honest. It looked like Donald Trump. But it doesn't really matter whether it looked like Donald Trump or not, it doesn't make it any more like Donald Trump whether you make it look accurate or not. Now I don't know whether this is a coincidence or not, but the guy died very shortly after making the idol of Donald Trump and that's why it became a big news story. This man makes it, because you know the media was trying to make Donald Trump bad. It's like, see, they made an idol of Donald Trump and then the guy died. It's like, well, it's just a piece of wood. I'm sure God's angry with them making an idol, but that doesn't make it any more or less like Donald Trump. It's just an idol. It's make-believe. But point number two, when it comes to these idols, people use this as a means to mediate to God, where basically they use an idol as an intercessory method to speak to God or to communicate with God, okay? Now notice what it says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 4, and of course in Catholicism they're less honest because they'll say, well, these are just saints that we pray to, but it's basically like a god in any other religion is what they would call it, right, where basically they go to a saint to communicate to God instead of just directly communicating to God. But when it comes to mediation, who do we go to? Well, notice what it says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 4, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Our mediator to God the Father is Christ Jesus. There is no mediatrix. There is no mediatrix of Mary to pray to God. We go to Jesus Christ as the mediation or the mediator to talk to God. That's what the Bible says. We go to God the Son to speak to God the Father, okay? He is the mediator. We don't need an idol. Like, why would you pray to an idol when you can pray to God? Right? I mean, it doesn't make any sense, but that's what people do. Even people that would say they're Christian, people that are Catholic, would go to an idol and it's like, well, I want to talk to God. I've got this problem in my life, so I'm going to go to Joseph or I'm going to go to Peter and he's going to help me with these. I'm going to go to Padre Pio, right, and he's going to help me with whatever prayer requests I have, right? It's just like, no, you go directly to God. Verse 6, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. See, here's what's interesting about this. Jesus Christ, he died for everybody and see, he is able to be a mediator for everybody in the world. Now, I want you to understand this idea that's taught in the Bible. When it comes to an idol, like let's say, for example, this was the black Nazarene right here, right? It's black, right? It looks about as much like Jesus as the little idol statue they have. Let's say this was the black Nazarene right here, okay? And let's say, you know, we had a million people on Quiapo Street. That's only one million people. This earth is full of eight billion people, so this is only mediating for a million people. I mean, not that the idol is anything anyway. It mediates for nobody, but even if it did, it's only capable for a million people and people that are within vicinity of it, right? What about 364 days during the year? What about if you live in another part of the world, right? It doesn't make sense because this idol only mediates for a small group of people. Even if it were real, it only is going to be helpful for a small group of people. Jesus Christ died for everybody. He died for all, right? Go to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3. I mean, it's comical when you think about it. People literally will fly around the world to go to locations to speak to an idol. And they do that in the Philippines with the black Nazarene. They do that in other religions as well. They'll have a certain part of the world that is holy or somehow, you know, powerful or whatever. In India, the Ganges River, they say, came down from heaven to earth. They believe the Ganges River is directly from God here on earth, and it started in heaven and God brought it down to earth. And so you have to fly around the world to bathe in the Ganges River to get healed of a disease? The Ganges River is not everywhere. It doesn't mediate for every single person. Or they'll go to a pilgrimage to Mecca with Islam. Or they'll go to a pilgrimage for a Hindu religion or Buddhist religion. They have certain areas they go to, and it's just like they'll go to a great effort to go to this one place because somehow you can get closer to God by speaking to this one idol or this one location. It's like it doesn't make any sense because Jesus Christ died for everybody, and anybody can go to God. First Timothy 3, verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached on the Gentiles, believed on the world, received up into glory. The Bible says here in First Timothy 3, verse 16, God was manifest in the flesh. This is a mystery. It is hard to wrap your minds around this. What the Bible teaches is that Jesus Christ was 100% God, 100% man. Not 50% God, 50% man, but God was manifest in the flesh. You say, Brother Stuckey, why is it that Jesus Christ is able to be a mediator for everybody? Because he bridged the gap between heaven and earth because he was God and man. That's the reason why. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, the Bible teaches. And see, we can go to Jesus Christ because he was all God and he was all man, and he came here on earth and he bridged the gap between heaven and earth, right? Go to Galatians 3. Let me show this to you. Galatians chapter 3. But this statue is just a statue. I mean, perhaps it was created from the depths of the center of the earth, but it's just like this is just a statue. But Jesus Christ was all God and all man, and he came and he died for us, and he is able to be the mediator for everybody because he died for everybody. Not just some people. Not just a small group of people in one part of the world, people that grew up near Quiapo Street. I mean, look, I'd never heard of the Black Nazarene until a couple years ago. So now I can't get this magical healing power because I'm not living in this part of the world because I lived in the U.S.? It doesn't make any sense, right? And when it comes to these idols and statues, they'll say, well, yeah, you know, this is somehow magical. It's got this healing power, and yet only a small group of people in the world will go to that method, right? It only mediates for a small group of people, even if it were real. It's a wrong mindset, and yet unsaved people, they don't understand this, right? People do not have this knowledge. Galatians 3, verse 19, Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now, Galatians 3 is showing you the problems of the law and showing how nobody could ever work their way to heaven and the deficiencies in the law. Not that the law is bad in and of itself, but it was never given so we could get saved. The Bible is very clear about that. It actually shows that we need a Savior when you look at the law, and the Bible says that the law was given and ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. So when it comes to the law, who was it in the Old Testament who was the mediator? Moses, right? Moses was the man who went to God and got the laws. He brought down the Ten Commandments. It was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. So Moses was the mediator between God and man at that time. God in the Hebrews, right? When you're reading the Old Testament, Moses is the one who is the mediator between God and then the people, right? Well, here's the thing about this. Was Moses a perfect mediator? No, which also shows the deficiencies in the law. I mean, Moses has gone for a short time to get the law, and then the people are worshiping a golden calf because Moses isn't around. Now, that's not his fault, but it's because of the fact he's not everywhere at once. He's not a perfect mediator. Not only that, Moses is sitting there judging the people, and then his father-in-law, Jethro, says, what are you doing, right? It's a good thing you're doing, but you're going to wear away. You're going to get tired. You're going to get exhausted. You can't bear the burden of these people. It's too many people, too much energy. You say, why? Moses wasn't able to be the mediator for everybody, which actually shows the deficiencies in the law. And look, this is not to criticize Moses, because Moses is one of the greatest people who ever lived. No man could be a perfect mediator, right? And it shows the deficiencies in the law. So it was given in the hands of a mediator, and yet Moses failed as being the mediator because any man is going to fail. No man's going to be perfect. Then it says this in verse 20, now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. See, the Bible's saying here, a person who is a mediator is not meant to mediate just for one person, and yet God as one person was able to mediate for everybody. See, you individually, maybe you could serve as a mediator for one person. You don't have the energy to serve as a mediator for thousands of people and ten thousands of people and hear everything they're going through and talk to God for them. It's not possible. There'd be way too many prayer requests and way too many problems. It wouldn't even be possible. And see, a mediator is not meant to mediate just for one person, but for everybody. And God as one person was able to mediate for everybody, because Jesus Christ is the mediator for all men. He died for everybody. So here's what I'm saying. An idol cannot mediate for everybody, even if it weren't make-believe, even if it's real. It only serves for the people that live near it. And then of course you go home, and then you're not in front of that idol anymore, because people think they have to go to an idol to pray. They think somehow I've got to go in front of an idol and pray to it, and it's my mediator to God. What about when you're driving down the side of the road and you're afraid you're going to die? Some scary thing happens or whatever, and you've got to pray to God and talk to God. Oh, I don't have my idol with me. How am I going to talk to God? But see, that's literally the mindset that people have. They think they have to go to a mediator to talk to God when Jesus Christ was the mediator for everybody. An idol could never be the mediator for everybody, because this idol does not exist everywhere in the world. It's not everywhere at one time. And the only one who is everywhere at one time is God. And Jesus Christ was all God and all man, and He is everywhere. And you can go to God, go to Jesus Christ to speak to God the Father. Now turn your Bible to Acts 7. I mean, the Philippines itself is only 100 million people. The world has 8 billion plus people on this planet. The Philippines is barely more than 1% of the world. So even if everybody could go to Quiapo Street from the Philippines, that only mediates for 1% of the world. And of course, here in Luzon, it's like 50 million or 52 million or something like that. I mean, that's less than 1% of the world. So the thing is, even if this was a method of mediation, right, this idol of Jesus Christ, it only helps a small group of people in this world, right? And see, this is the false idea, this false philosophy that you've got to go to some sort of idol. And look, there's people that have their lucky charm in their pocket. They've got their rosary beads or something like that, like, oh, I got to have my rosary beads to pray to God. What about when you misplace your rosary beads? Look, everybody misplaces their cell phone from time to time. It's like, where's my phone? Everybody misplaces their rosary beads from time to time, right? No matter what you do, you're not always going to have your rosary beads with you, right, or whatever the method that they use, or this idol of Peter or Jesus or Mary or whatever. It doesn't make sense. Acts 7, verse 39, it says, To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them. And in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses which brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. Here's the example from the Old Testament, where basically Moses is gone, and he's not able to serve as the mediator to God for the people, because he's gone for a time period. God tells him to go, and then all of a sudden he's not around, and all of a sudden these people have this complaint that they have, Moses is not there. Verse 41, And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Now, the people make a golden calf, and of course when it comes to idolatry, people think different things about idols. I don't think that everyone necessarily believed that that was God. I don't think most of them did. But somehow they had this idea that, well, God's not here, and Moses is not here, so I've got to just pray to this idol, and that's how I can communicate with God. And of course, you're looking at it like, what are you guys doing? Now of course that there were a lot of unsaved people amongst the Hebrews. Not all of these people are saved, just because they have the ethnicity. However, I'm sure that there were some saved people that kind of got caught up into this, well, Moses isn't here, how are we going to talk to God? And somehow they thought making a golden calf is a means to talk to God. It's foolishness, right? Turn your Bible to Hosea 4, Hosea chapter 4. And let me read you from Catholic.com, which is a big website for Catholics, and it's used oftentimes as apologetics ministry for them, where they defend Catholicism. It says, it is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing things. Okay, well, that's what we're doing. We're warning you about the Feast of the Black Nazarene, okay? But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses, both good and bad, of statues. Look, if that's not idolatry, then what is idolatry? And they say that these idols, well, you know what, you can't criticize us because it's just an image of a saint, it's an image of Jesus Christ. That's not what Jesus Christ looks like, number one. And explain to me your picture of Peter, that you know that that's what Peter looked like, or that that's what Mary looked like, or that that's what Joseph or whomever they make an image of, the Apostle John, whoever they make an image of, it's like, well, how do you know that that's what they look like? Right? And you can call it Peter all you want, you can call it Jesus all you want, it doesn't make it any more Peter or Jesus than, you know, whatever, right? This is not an image, and look, this doesn't even, I don't know anyone who would think this is an image of Jesus. It's this morbid statue where it, I mean, it's really depressing. It's like he's going to the end where he's going to be put to death. Why would you make that as your idol of Jesus? I don't understand that, but that's what people do, right? But that's what it says from catholic.com. Let me read you an article. So point number one is this. Here in Hosea 4, point number one is these idols are make-believe. There's nothing to it. It's fake. Point number two, when it comes to mediation or being a mediator, they cannot mediate to God and even if they could, it would only be a mediator for a small group of people. Point number three, it misdirects people from how to actually communicate and get close to God. Here's a website, a Hindu website on 10 reasons why Hindus worship idols, and they admit they worship idols. They don't deny it like the Catholics deny. Here's what it says, number one reason, it is the easiest way to instill faith and devotion in people. So they say, you know what, it's really hard to get people to be devoted to God. The easiest way is to give them an idol to come to and just pray to that idol and worship that idol. And here's what it says underneath that point. As an abstract concept, God may be appealing to the intellectual minds. However, ordinary people who are busy with their own lives and who are not well versed in the scriptural knowledge or religious scholarship may find it difficult to grasp the deeper knowledge of the self or the abstract notions of an invisible, formless God. So what it's saying here is, you know what, some people, they can read the Hindu scriptures, they can read the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and things such as that, and they can understand them and they can communicate with God. But other people, they just don't know enough, they're not smart enough, and it doesn't help them. So basically, instead of them actually reading the Hindu scriptures, just give them an idol and that's their way of communicating with God. Now here's the thing, whether Catholics want to admit this or not, that's what they actually believe with their religion, they're just not honest about it. I mean, one of their famous preachers, you know, Bo Sanchez said, it's not necessary to read the scriptures. I mean, reading the Bible is a good thing, but you don't need the Bible to grow as a Christian. It's not important. I mean, it's a good thing to do, it's not necessary though. And his argument was, where does it show Moses reading the scriptures? It's like, what are you talking about? He had the scriptures. There's someone who doesn't read their scriptures a lot, right? But that's what he said, it's not necessary. He's like, if you want to do that, that's a good thing to do, absolutely, but it's not necessary to grow. The Bible, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. The Bible is very specific. If you want to grow, you need to read the scriptures, okay? Well, here's the thing about this. According to Hinduism, according to this website, there's some people that just don't get much out of reading the Hindu scriptures, so instead just worship and idol, and you know what? That's the same thing as Catholicism. Show me a Catholic that reads the scriptures a lot. Show me a Catholic that really reads their Bibles. Does it exist somewhere in the world? Yeah, probably somewhere. I mean, what percentage of Catholics actually read their Bibles on a daily basis, more than maybe one verse or a couple? I don't think very many at all. I don't know if I've ever met a Catholic that ever even said they read the Bible. They just rely on their religious teachers, but it's easy to instill faith and devotion in them because they're really zealous worshiping that idol. I mean, the people that go down to the Feast of the Black Nazarene, 99% of them never read the Bible at all during the year, but they're very religious when they go down to that statue. I mean, they do everything they can to climb up on it so they can get healed of whatever disease they have or whatever, and it's because they don't have knowledge. They don't understand these things. I'm not trying to mock them or criticize them. That is an unsaved person that does not have the spirit of truth to guide them. I'm just saying, it's like they have faith in devotion. No question about that. Takes a lot of devotion to go down there. I mean, it's hot outside. I mean, the risk of being trampled, they're there all day, and many of them will actually go through on a light scale the suffering of Jesus where they won't eat all day and they'll walk for miles and everything because they think by harming their bodies to a small degree will help them get close to God somehow. They do this in other religions also. And what it's called is just not having knowledge of what the Bible actually teaches. You say, Brother Stuckey, is that an acceptable method to kind of worship God? How do we worship God? Hosea 4 verse 6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm just not the sort of person to do a lot of reading. I don't really like reading that much. I want to be close to God. I want to get to know God, but I'm just not much of a reader. It's not my thing. I can't understand everything. Can you give me another method? No, I can't. God gave us a book. He gave us a book. He didn't give us a statue. He didn't give us a DVD player either. I'm all for the audio Bible. The audio Bible is great if you want to use that method. I'm just saying, God gave us a book with words. If you want to get close to God, you've got to read this book. There is no other method. There is no other method of mediation. And you say, Brother Stuckey, aren't we hearing preaching? That's another method. It's another method because I'm using a lot of Bible verses and explaining them. It's the words themselves that bring you close to God, though. There is no other method. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. God didn't give us an idol. And look, I'm sure that if God had given us an idol, there would be a lot of people that would be willing to just hold that idol and look at it and talk to it for hours every day. But that's not what he gave us. He gave us a book that we have to read. And that is our method to draw close to God. These idols and this mindset is misdirecting people. Because in Catholicism, they feel like they're close to God by going to the Feast of the Black Nazarene. And here's the thing, they're going to walk away from it and they will feel spiritual. They will. I mean, you listen to people that go to pilgrimages, to Mecca or to Hindu sites or Buddha sites. I've seen videos online on YouTube and they say, you know what? You don't understand until you do this. We went there and we felt close to God. It was like nothing we had ever experienced before. And it's like, I do believe that they actually feel that way. I don't think they're lying about it. Right? I don't believe they're faking it. And when it comes to these pilgrimages, they're usually very difficult to do. It'll be like this temple that's up in a mountain and it takes hours and hours to get there and you're exhausted by the time you get there. And then you're like, this is an experience I'll never forget. It's a spiritual experience like nothing else you could possibly imagine. I mean, literally there's this one I've seen online. I don't remember where it is, but it's this Hindu temple in the midst of this forest and it's like five miles or something up and you're, you're crawling up and walking up all these steps. Very beautiful. The temple's amazing. I mean, you're, you're out in the woods. I mean, it's this fantastic thing. I mean, I'm sure as you're seeing it, there's, there's a sort of magical spiritual experience you're feeling where you're never going to forget it. And they think they're getting close to God and they're not. It's misdirecting people from actually what gets them close to God. You say, brother Stuckey, how does a person get close to God? By reading the scriptures. I mean, if somebody grew up Catholic as a five year old, even being unsaved, but they started reading the Bible, you know what, they would start to understand certain things. This is our method to know God and to get close to God, not a statue, not an idol. Go to Acts 17, Acts 17. And let me read you a little bit more from this Hindu website. It says for them, people that worship these idols, idols and concrete images are extremely useful and convenient to express their simple devotion and connect to the idea of God at the mental and emotional levels and on the most personal terms. An image can directly appeal to a devotee and instantly draw them into a reverential and devotional state. In his mind, it comes to life according to his imagination and expectations. It becomes a living presence in his consciousness, representing all that he holds in great esteem about him in his thoughts as the compassionate giver of boons and blessings who responds to his woes and supplications and helps him in difficulties. So people pray to this idol and to them, it becomes alive like they're talking to God somehow according to this website, right? And people literally think they're getting close to God by going to these statues. And of course, most of the world is unsaved, but here's what I'm saying. Most of the world though thinks they're spiritual. Most of the world thinks that they're close to God and they think by praying to these idols and being before these idols, they're getting close to God. It's misdirecting people from actually being close to God. And it makes it difficult to talk to people like these. If somebody is really into idolatry, they might reject the gospel because they already feel close to God. They're like, I'm already close to God. Why do I need this? Why do I need to hear the gospel? I already have a relationship with God. And yet if they actually open up the Bible, they'd see this is about the biggest abomination they could possibly do because it's a devil. It's a false god. It also says from this website, number four on their list is, the idols help the devotee become deeply religious. A devout Hindu worships his favorite deities and the temples are at home to fill his mind with their thoughts and keeps himself in a certain reverential and devotional state as he engages himself in worldly activities and obligatory duties. The practice reinforces his faith and his confidence to face the problems and difficulties in life. When the idols of the gods are installed in the house or in a puja mandir, place of worship in a house, the very house becomes an abode of gods, a sacred place or a temple by itself. By their very presence in the house, the idols remind the devout members of the household of their divine presence amidst them and the need to live religiously and ethically to keep the house clean and sacred and free from evil influences. So basically as Hindus go about their day, what they're saying is, if you have an idol that they basically, you know, worship and they know and they pray to and bow down to and everything, as they go about their day, they'll think about that picture of Shiva. They'll think about that idol and that's how they can basically meditate upon God. That's what they think. And I'm sure many of them, and look, you know what, honestly, it is a lot easier just memorizing an image in your head than really trying to meditate on God's word, because meditating on God's word is difficult. It takes a lot of efforts. And what they'll do is they'll just picture basically that image or that idol in their head. Go to Acts 17, Acts 17, Acts 17 verse 16, Acts 17 verse 16, and it says, Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler say? Other some, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. They took him and brought him on to Aeropagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? They think it's strange that he doesn't have an idol to communicate with God. They're confused by this. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. We would know, therefore, what these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time and nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare unto you. It's interesting here in verse 23, it refers to the unknown God, and it refers to this idol that they're worshiping and saying they have an unknown God that they don't understand and they use an idol as their intermediate method to communicate with God. What's interesting is I've read Hindu books before and I've listened to a lot of things from Hindus. They always talk about the unknown God. Now this is not Hindus here in Acts 17, but it is the exact same mindset. It's basically the exact same religion when you look at Acts 17, but they always talk about the unknown God because they say God is in a realm that we can't comprehend, so our best way to do that is we make something, even though it's not God at all, and yet that is our intermediate method to be able to communicate somehow with God on a spiritual realm. Go to 2 Corinthians 6. We'll close up. 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6. And look, Catholics can deny that they're worshiping idols, but they believe the same thing as the Hindus because they're doing the exact same things as the Hindus. They're just not open and honest about the things that they're doing. I mean, people literally believe with the black Nazarene, if they touch it, they can get healed of a disease. Why not just pray to God? Right? Why not just pray to God and say, God, can you help me? Now let me just say this. When we're communicating with God, there's actually kind of a method. We're communicating with God the Father. You see, for example, the Lord's Prayer, and you'll say things like Heavenly Father. We pray, and we end the prayer in Jesus' name, and this is a scriptural thing because Jesus is our mediator to communicate with God the Father, so we direct our prayers to God the Father, but our mediator is Jesus Christ. And see, that's the method the Bible teaches, but people that worship idols, they believe the idol itself is their mediator to communicate with God. 2 Corinthians 6. And what concord, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 15, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth within infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For a year the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. See, the Bible says we should have nothing to do with these idols. Come out and be separate from them. Now, some idols are very magnificent looking, right? You can almost be in awe of them when you see them and think, wow, it's beautiful, it's amazing. The Bible says we should look at them as being wicked though, and have absolutely nothing to do with them. Now, this statue of Jesus, this is not beautiful. I don't know why this is the big statue that's popular. It's the most morbid looking weird statue of Jesus Christ. But some of these idols in this world, and some of these false religious things, some of them are pretty magnificent. You see them and it catches your eye, you're almost in respect or in awe of it, but the Bible says have nothing to do with it, because it's a devil that they're basically worshiping. It's a wicked thing, and look, it's a false philosophy, this idea that we use an idol to communicate with God. As God's people, we say, what is the answer? Here's the answer. Read God's word, understand God's word, and pray to God. And as you talk to God, God communicates with you via his word. You have a question about the Bible, you have a question about life, pray to God, ask for guidance. Then as you're reading the Bible, God has the answers here. He doesn't answer you through an idol, he answers you through his word. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic, and help us to realize how wicked this sin is of idolatry, how it is a false philosophy, God, that we need to communicate to an idol to talk to you. But help us also as God's people to realize that people that are worshiping these idols, they're just unsaved people, they need the Lord, they don't understand salvation. Help us to get people saved, but also Catholics that we do get saved, help them to understand that literally the idol is nothing. It's a piece of wood, it's a piece of metal, it means absolutely nothing, God. Help everybody to have this knowledge. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.