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Amen, okay, so Exodus chapter 32, and that's a great passage of the Bible there, but if you just keep a finger there, we're going to be coming back there, and turn to 1 Corinthians 5, as is our sort of our custom on a Sunday evening right now, turn to 1 Corinthians 5, because we're continuing our series called Sins That Get You Kicked Out of Church, Sins That Get You Kicked Out of Church, and 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 11 gives a list of sins that get you kicked out of church, 1 Corinthians 5-11 reads, but now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one, no not to eat, and we've looked at fornication and covetousness, and today we're going to look at idolatry, so the title of my sermon is Sins That Get You Kicked Out of Church, Idolatry, let's pray, Father thank you, thank you for your word, thank you for just this, you know, the clear teachings and clear teachings about, you know, the sorts of people we should and shouldn't have in our church, how to deal with that sort of thing, and Lord thank you for the many, many passages in the Bible which cover this wicked sin of idolatry, please help me to preach this loudly, boldly, clearly now for me with your spirit Lord, help those to have attentive ears and just stay alert and awake after a long Sunday out preaching the Gospel and Lord in Jesus' name, pray with us, Amen. Okay so what is idolatry? What is idolatry? Well, we're going to go through just a few dictionary definitions, starting with Webster's 1828 which says, the worship of idols, images or anything made by hands or which is not God. Idolatries are two kinds of worship of images, statues, pits etc made by hands and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars with demons, angels, men and animals. So number two, there is excessive attachment or veneration for anything or that which borders on adoration. Dictionary.com says a religious worship of idols, excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion etc. Collins Dictionary, someone who practices idolatry, worships idols. Cambridge says very great admiration or respect for someone, often too great. The act of praying to a picture or object as part of a religion, which is what we often think of, don't we, when we think of idolatry. You know, we think of that and what we see primarily in scripture or idolatry involving an object, okay, that's what we generally see, an object, an image, something of that sort of type, some sort of statue, some sort of image. Turn to 2 Kings 23, because I don't think anyone here is probably, you know, unaware of that. You see it in scripture a lot and we've just seen that in obviously over in Exodus 32 with the golden calf, but 2 Kings chapter 23 talks of idolatrous priests. So being idolatrous priests, they're clearly idolaters and someone who actively partakes in idolatry and an idolater, according to Webster's dictionary, is a worshipper of idols, one who pays divine honours to images, statues or representations of anything made by hands, one who worships as a deity that which is not God, or a pagan and adoring a great admirer. So one who worships as a deity that which is not God. So it's worshipping as a God, something or even someone that is not God, right? So have a look at 2 Kings 23 here and from verse 4 where Josiah, the young king, is cleaning up the land. It says in verse 4, And a king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priest of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal. Baal is another name for Satan, the devil, he's an idol, right? And for the grove, the grove is where they worshipped idols, and for all the host of heaven, angels, again idols, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem, them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven. So these aren't necessarily images, right? Like the golden calf, yeah, they're burning incense to the sun, to the moon. Now, yeah, they might have had an image of that. But the point being that these are all idols, right? They're all idols. And my point is that we often focus on just somebody who worships an object or some sort of statue or something else. A lot of the time it's because we're showing the Roman Catholic religion to be the fraud that it is, right? Where clearly the Bible's clear about these things and they do make idols of things, don't they, as well? It's anything which is not God. Here it's they're burning incense unto Baal and these are idolatrous priests to the sun and to the moon, to the planets, to all the host of heaven, being the angels there. So it's not necessarily images like the golden calf, it is idolatry. It's worshipping as a deity that which is not God, right? Look at verse six, and he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. Notice that? He casts the powder upon the graves of the children of the people. Often in scripture we see him fantasize along with idolatry, don't we? Often they go hand in hand. The idolatry, the idolaters often resort to some form of child sacrifice. We see that in our day and age now and I preached a sermon on that not long ago. But when you're reading this passage, you can't miss verse seven, which is and he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord where the women wove hangings for the grove. So again, it all goes hand in hand, doesn't it? Sodomites, false religion, idols, infanticide, just one big, wicked, disgusting mess there, right? Now turn to Psalm 96. So idolatry is worshipping idols and idolater worships. Idols and idol being anything worshipped as God, which isn't God, yeah? And that's why Psalm 96 and verse number five, Psalm 96 five says, for all, for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. So all the gods of the nations, all the gods of the people, basically all false gods are idols, right? But the Lord made the heavens. That means that the million or so gods of Hinduism are all idols, right? Every single one of them is an idol, they're idolaters, they're idolatrous, they're worshipping idols. The Sikh guru gods are idols too, right? Every single one of them is an idol. Buddha is an idol. Oh, he's not a God. You heard that one? Oh, he's not a God. But we've all seen him bow down prostrate worshiping images of Buddha, they don't fall us. It's all idolatry, isn't it? Allah is an idol. Oh, well, oh, no, they're very against, oh, no, no, they're not into graving images. No, no, they don't have an idol. No, he's an idol, he's a false God. Yeah, it's idolatry. With his five pillars of Islam nonsense, it's all idolatry, isn't it? But so is the false God of Judaism, because it's not the God of the Bible. It's an idol. It's a false God. It's a fake God. It's idolatry. Whichever version of God they choose, because it seems to vary a lot amongst who you talk to. But then so also then are the false gods of all the different versions of so-called Christianity, in inverted commas. They're all idols, aren't they? They're all idols. So obviously, the Roman Catholic, effeminate Jesus, whose blood wasn't enough to pay for your sins. That's an idol, isn't it? Because it's a false God. It's a God with a small g, because it's not the Jesus of the Bible. So therefore, forget Mary for now. Forget that the dead saints and all the rest of that nonsense, their so-called Jesus is an idol. Their God is an idol, isn't he? And let's be honest, is the Anglican idol any different? I mean, it's basically like the difference between Baal and Beelzebub, isn't it? It's just the same stuff. It's just a slightly different form of idol. But therefore, the Pentecostal work salvation God is an idol, isn't he? He's a false God. He's a God which requires you to repent of your sins, a God that requires you to not do certain sins for then the blood to be enough to pay for your sins. It's an idol. It's a false God. A false God whose so-called Holy Spirit makes you act like a moron. Yeah, it's a false God. The repent of your sins false Baptist God is an idol, isn't he? He's a God of the people. He's a false God of the people. He's an idol. Because the repenting of your sins, God, isn't a real God. He's a lie and the devil's behind him, right? So again, it's an idol. It's a false God. The Calvinist sovereign God is an idol. The Calvinist sovereign God who apparently wills all sorts of wicked sin because, you know, it's all God's will, he's all sovereign, is an idol. It's a fake. It's a fraud. It's a false God. They're all idols. Because it's the God of the Bible, the Lord that made the heavens. And there's only one God in three persons, but one God, right? The rest are idols. The gods for all the gods of the nations are idols. With that in mind, turn to Colossians chapter three. Because it's not just those caught up in other so-called religions that are idolaters, is it? Okay, so on one hand, in case you're unaware, all these false religions, all these false gods are idols. But it's not just those. Look at Colossians chapter three. Colossians 3.5 is talking to believers, he's talking to believers here in a church at Colossae. And in verse five, it says, mortify, which is restrain or subdue, therefore your members, this is Colossians 3.5, mortify, therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, which is lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry. So he's saying, restrain that, subdue that, that covetousness which is idolatry. So he's saying, don't do those things, but one of those is covetousness, which is a form of idolatry, worshipping money or other possessions as some sort of god. That's what the covetous do, don't they? The money becomes a form of worship, it's something to worship, it becomes a god. But covetousness isn't the only form of idolatry that a believer can get involved in, okay? That's not the only form, it is an obvious one, and it's one that we see a lot in the Bible, in the New Testament particularly, and talking to the churches is something that we all have to be aware of. But I've already preached on covetousness, haven't I? Go back to Exodus chapter 32, because we often think of idolatry as something that's just for the unsaved, yeah? Or only applies to the new believer in India. Oh, well, it's just those new believers in India that have to watch out for that idolatry stuff, right? Well, I don't believe that's the case. Look at Exodus 32 and from verse 1. Exodus 32, 1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not what is become of him. So Moses is up in Mount Sinai, he's told them that Aaron and Hur are in charge, okay? Now, look at how they talk to Aaron, I mean, it's unreal, isn't it? Look at the disrespect there, up, make us gods, how they talk to him, and what does he do? They say, jump, he says, how high? Kind of probably why, there's such disrespect for him, right? And Aaron is obviously, you know, we see an example of how a leader shouldn't be, right? And there's someone who's been left to be in charge, and he's just like, you know, you tell me what to do, but they said, up, make us gods. But also, regardless of whether or not Aaron obviously, you know, for whatever reason, it allows him to talk to him like that. It's often the case with people that either are or want to partake in some wicked sin, they often try to force a man of God to justify them, don't they? They want justification. So for them, they want Aaron to sort of be a part of it and to justify, and you'll get that, you'll notice it, you know, people want to start trying to justify something they're doing, coming to you and encourage you to justify whatever sin it is, okay? Here they're trying to do that with Aaron here, get him involved in it. What are they demanding here? Gods with a small g, which shall go before them. Something else to guide them because they're impatient waiting, right? They're impatient waiting for Moses, so they want something else to guide them to be their sort of guide, to be their God that will go before them, right? Now, it made me think, how about the Christian that wants to hang on every word of maybe the self-help guru? There are those, there are those believers that will maybe make the latest sort of, you know, celebrity, maybe not celebrity-wise person in the world, some sort of God in their eyes, right? Because why is that? Because it takes too long maybe to read and get that guidance from the word of God. Instead of reading and studying and learning the word of God, it's easier to just go to the so-called, you know, he'll help you how to be happy in life, he'll help you to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. The Christian that makes an idol of someone like David Icke, we mentioned him earlier, makes an idol of someone like David Icke because they're impatient learning to understand the world through the lens of the Bible, impatient trying to read and learn and then get an understanding of the world, so it's easier just to go to someone who's going to, oh no, no, I've spoken to special spirits high up in the world, this is what this clown comes out with, yeah? I spoke to them, we call, I think he says he calls them the guys, yeah? The guys who now and again he talks to and they tell him what's really going on behind, you know, closed doors with the elite of the world, I mean it's unbelievable, but there are Christians out there that will follow this guy, they've made him into an idol, they've made him into someone, they worship what he says, they believe everything he says, he becomes some sort of godlike figure, it's idolatry, isn't it? Now you might say, yeah, yeah, but here they're requesting inanimate objects, here it's an object, it's something specific to worship, not a person, but do you think that that Catholic that you saved last week is going to automatically stop praying to that crucifix? Anyone think that? Oh no, he's saved now, he's going to stop praying to the crucifix. How long are you discipling him for afterwards? Is he automatically now just going to follow the word, just going to learn everything? No. No, it might take a while for that, yeah? There are people, there might even be people here that look back when they first got saved that were still doing some sort of idolatrous practices, right, when they first got saved. It does happen amongst believers and just because you don't, it doesn't mean someone else will necessarily stop, just because you ended up getting into the word of God and listening to good preaching and reading your Bible, it doesn't mean everyone else does, right? Okay, that's not automatic. How about the relatively blank canvas new believer that you got saved, yeah, maybe you got saved some blank canvas new believer, no background in idolatry, don't you think they could somehow end up worshipping some sort of angel statue or something like that? Some dead saint image or angel little garden statue that they picked up down at the Christian bookstore, you know those Christian bookstores where they just sell full-on graven images and everything else but it's a Christian bookstore, right? And sometimes, some of us might have gone in those places because you want to get the King James Bible when you're just kind of wading through idolatry and everything, they're wicked places, aren't they? Really wicked places but what, do you think the new believer can be conned into that? Go into the bookstore, well that guy told me at the door to get a King James Bible because this one's the prince a bit small, don't really want to go down to the church and get a better one, I'll just go down the bookstore, right? Go down the bookstore and suddenly you got like idol, idol, idol, you know, oh that little angel one's only £1.50, it's a complete rip-off, yeah, it should be grounded of powder and stored on the water but no, I'll just grab one of those, you know, isn't that what people do? They don't know any better, do they? That's what a Christian does, doesn't it? You get people saved and sometimes they're still, you know, I've talked to a guy the other week, look, he repented of what he believed, right? Put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but then he's going, oh I don't think the Catholic Church was that bad, you know, I'll just go back to, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, you know, you're trying to, you know, explain to them, no, look, because he didn't really know what they were teaching, he wasn't there much, he kind of didn't really understand but look, it doesn't mean automatically they're not. So what about, what about his one, I was thinking of, what about a Saint Christopher amulet? Anyone know who Saint Christopher is? Anyone know for the Catholic, but oh look, quite a few, yeah, yeah, the patron saint of travelling, yeah, this is what the Catholics, one of their dead saints and there are people that go around with the Saint Christopher little amulet or some little like image of Saint Christopher to help their travels, so you're like, man, these train strikes are getting pretty tough, yeah, just got saved, Saint Christopher amulet, that'll do it, just got to pray to him every time before I get on the train, those strikes are going to cease, look, people do that, yeah, okay, that's possible, just because we're all sitting here going, no way, look, you think people haven't, you think people won't, you think people can't, it's all idolatry, isn't it, look at verse two, and Aaron said unto them break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me. Now Aaron has clearly felt the pressure, hasn't he here, and he's compromising, okay, he's compromising big time here, he tries to somehow merge it together, but look, you either follow the word of God or you don't, yeah, you can't blend it together to please people, he's a classic case of the weak soft leader who's just trying to appease the people, okay, he's trying to appease the people here, but in case any of the men or boys here are wondering, this isn't a good advertisement for men with earrings, okay, these are people that are calling for idolatry and everything else, and obviously they are kind of in essence a picture of newly saved people anyway, aren't they, so let's not go, oh look, the word of God says all these men of God, like all these wandering around with earrings, no, don't start getting earrings, okay, and all the people break off the golden earrings which are in their ears and brought them unto Aaron, and he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he'd made it a molten calf, and they said these be thy gods, oh Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, holy cow. Now it's interesting, isn't it, that this famous early case of idolatry is a young cow, isn't it, it's a young cow, and we have this famous wicked religion of Hinduism, don't we, that also worship the holy cow, isn't it bizarre, and I mean they love those cows out there and, you know, they love them so much that they wouldn't even eat a nice fillet steak, can you believe that, I mean that, I tell you what, that is some penance that, isn't it, I mean, wow, I could think of some things that you could do, you know, that you have to suffer, but suffering not eating steak again, I don't know about that, but they love the cow, and I've been out in India, and you know, people, and this does happen, and people warn you as well, look, you make sure you don't run over a cow in India, okay, because you run over a cow, especially somewhere rural in India, and there's a big chance you're going to get lynched, yeah, you'll get killed for killing that cow, that cow walks straight away, and they do walk straight out in the road, I mean I was on my motorbike, like trying to swerve around these cows, they'll just wander out in the road in front of you, and it's pretty scary stuff, because a cow's going to do you some damage, it's not like running over a squirrel or something, you're going to go flying, and look, I got butted by a cow in India as well, and if anyone had, you know, if I turned around and done something back, I probably would have got some grief off some of the locals, I was just trying to find a motorbike late at night, and then suddenly I just, these two welts on my leg, they could be dangerous animals as well, but the Indians, and obviously we're talking about the Hindus here, the Hindus worship the cow, and that's quite interesting, isn't it, that we've got this cow being worshipped a long time ago here as well, and I think some claim that the cow's been worshipped as long as human history actually, so I don't think this is anything new, they weren't like, hmm, what shall we go, let's go with a cow, and that was, this isn't like the birth of Hinduism, okay, this stuff has always existed, men have just always wanted to make idols and make false gods or something, a cow being, well, you've got the milk, you've got yoghurt coming off it, and all these, it can pull, you know, ploughs and everything else, it's like a sort of, you know, you can see why they would get into some sort of weird idolatry with it. Okay, so we've got this graven image here, and Aaron has made the golden calf, and notice how they said, they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, so the graven image is now replacing God, and even taking the credit for their physical salvation, okay, that's weird, isn't it, okay, now they're like, these are your gods, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt, so ultimately the idolaters here, they're trying to persuade the people to basically worship this idol instead, right, and I was thinking about maybe you could think of the type of people, because obviously the physical salvation is a picture of spiritual salvation, coming out from Egypt, the world, obviously the promised land being a picture of heaven, okay, now that makes me think of the way maybe some people can make an idol of a pastor or preacher, this be your god, yeah, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, right, this is your, this is who you should be worshipping, forget the Lord Jesus Christ, worship the pastor, worship everything, there are people that literally hang off every word their favourite pastor or preacher says, well what did that person say, well what did they say, what did their wife say, what did, and we've, you know, you've probably seen people like that, and some people as new Christians might have been like that, well it's just, what have they said about this, I mean you could preach something and they'll be like, well yeah, but does pastor whoever agree with that, did pastor, look, well what does the Bible say, what does the Bible say, because every, look, and we've got to get this right, because don't get me wrong, I have respect for good past and good preachers, yeah, I have the utmost respect and, you know, I have a love for some of these men of God out there who preach boldly and clearly and accurately the word of God and, and, and they're not scared of preaching the word of God, yeah, that's great, we should have respect for them, we don't want to grow too far the other way, we're just like, you know, start referring to them by their surname or just like, by their first name, just like, yeah, whatever, well, you know, we're all brothers, we're all the same, no, these are some, these are people that you should, you should have some respect for, okay, yeah, these are some people that have done some great things, but we don't want to make them idols either, right, okay, it's not what they say, it's what the word of God says, yeah, it's what God says, and there are people that can make, people do do that, right, okay, we want to make sure that we don't do that as well, that would be idolatry and, by the way, it's not, it's not their fault that they've been made an idol, okay, just in case you're wondering, because I've heard like, all the sorts of preachers that I listen to and have listened to over the years, they all make a big point of not idolising them, right, they make a big point of judging everything by the word, be like the Bereans, but then what happens is when they fall off their pedestal, when they're shown to be wrong about something or they make some error of judgment or something else, then it's people like almost angry with them, aren't they, like these same idolaters quickly change then, don't they, ah, I need a new idol, I just can't believe it, and then they kind of jump to the next one, then they just hate that last one because he got something wrong, look, they're all just people, right, okay, but look at verse five here, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord, so Aaron thinks that he can combine the two together, doesn't he, a bit of idolatry with the worship of the one true God, yeah, okay, well, that's not really how it works, is it, you can't be doing that, well, look at what happens, and they rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play, now, when you first read this, you think, oh, maybe like they were trying to make this to the Lord, well, they're sacrificing to the idol, according to verse eight, because verse eight says, it's God speaking, he says, they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I command them, they've made them a multi-calf note and have worshipped it and have sacrificed their unto, so I believe these peace offerings here, the burnt offerings and peace offerings are to the idol, right, or either way, you can't merge them, okay, you're basically, it's turning into some sort of idolatrous worship service here, so they sit down to eat and drink, oh, well, it's quite respectable, isn't it, but soon they're partying like some worldly charismatic church, aren't they, yeah, it doesn't take long before they're having, it's party time, because they're not worshiping God in spirit and in truth, are they, okay, what are they doing, they're worshiping an idol, now, what are some other examples of idolatry, so we've, you know, covered a few so far that I could think of, gods of the nations that believers could get involved in, and obviously we talked about all the different so-called religions, well, so, because they can be doing that, can't they, they can, it can be the different religions, yeah, they're saved, they attend our church, but maybe they still love going to the Roman Catholic Church, how about that, you think that couldn't happen, I think some of you got saved today, could it come along here next week, maybe start coming here on maybe a Sunday evening, but you still like going to that Roman Catholic Church on a Sunday morning and worshipping Mary, because the flesh just likes that, that's where my family are, that's where my friends are, etc, bit of worship there, but come here, look, it's not automatic because you're saved, is it, so there could be that, it could still be going to the Hindu temple, you get a guy saved who's in the Hinduism, you get him saved, right, is he just automatically never going to go there again, he could still be going there, couldn't he, we could start to consider him part of our church, but now and again he just goes and does a little idol worship down the Hindu temple, but it's not just, because it's not just any, it's not just the obvious what we consider idolatrous type graven image type stuff, because it could be any false god really, couldn't it, any false god, that same person that you get saved could still be going to the repent of your sins Baptist Church and worshipping that, and when I say like the obvious one, because some people they're not really sure, it's not, well I'm not really an idolater, I didn't really know what they believe there, some of them are quite quiet about it, aren't they, but some are just open, brazen, they're just worshipping a false god where it's worked salvation to get into heaven, and they're still going there for whatever reason, you think we can have that here, people that still go to wicked churches, people that come here, but they're still going up the Calvinist church and worshipping the false god of Calvinism, you think that couldn't happen, but it could happen, they're idolaters, should they be in our church, no, well obviously when they're first saved we're going to give some people some grace, aren't we, right, but it's not going to take long before like you need to get rid of that idolatry, you need to make sure that you're worshipping the true god, right, what about like angels and guardian angels, possible isn't it, John tried to worship the angel didn't he, Revelation 22a, you don't have to turn this says, and I John saw these things and heard them, when I'd heard and seen I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things, so that's the apostle John falling down at the feet of an angel who quickly told him to get up, yeah, and said don't do that, yeah, okay, but believers do that, believers do that, don't they, they could do that and people could do that, well they're saved but they're still like worshipping some angel, some guardian angel that they think, you know, should be worshipping, and other ideas, dead saints, yeah, dead saints, sure there are people that worship dead saints, Mary worship, how about the old, you don't even have to be from a Catholic background and it's so pushed on you that people might be like, oh yeah, well Mary, I better get down, I've just seen a graven image of Mary, better get down and bow to that image, and again, look, for us we might think, well this is a bit silly brother, Ian, come on, we're all saved, look, most people here have relatively matured to some degree, Christians, right, but I don't think that this couldn't happen with people, look, we want to reach the, we want to reach the lost, don't we, we want to reach the unsaved, we're not just waiting for someone who's been saved and been listening to good preaching for five years to come to this church, right, but we've got to be able to watch out for this sort of thing as well, because that's, this can and will happen in churches like us, pictures of graven images of Jesus, crucifixes, I think there aren't people that might, they get saved, well that's Jesus, isn't it, that's what I've been told is Jesus, and they bow down at night and I'll do my prayers to the crucifix, they don't know any better, did you explain that in your Gospel presentation? No, I'm not telling you you need to explain that by the way, okay, because your Gospel presentation is going to turn into five hours long, yeah, and more, and you're gonna have to do follow-ups and remind them of everything because they can't remember it all, right, lucky charms, people do that, have that, how about dead relatives, dead relatives, how many, how about praying to dead relatives, what's that, it's worshipping an idol, isn't it, a lot of people do that, okay, look, you're, it comes to the anniversary of your dead one, don't start praying to your dead relative, you think they're listening to your prayers up there, they turned into a god, no, pray to god, pray to god, if you want, don't start praying to that dead relative because what are you doing, you turn them into some sort of idol, some sort of false god, aren't you, dead relatives, kings and leaders, okay, we should submit, we should submit to the to leadership in our life, right, but there are people that worship, anyone been to Thailand, been to Thailand out here now, in Thailand they'll have, they'll have a lot of the time, they'll have certain religious stuff, then they'll have the king on the picture is at the top and they'll talk about worshipping their king, yeah, oh yeah, no, that's a king, they bow down to their king, they do prayers towards their king, they do some crazy stuff and that's not the only place, little countries like that, right, then people can do that and if you think about it, what was it that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to do, worship the golden image, right, and that's an idol, it's a false god and by the way that might be coming soon here, right, well we'll have to make that choice and say no, we will not be worshipping that image, right, okay, what about celebrities, pop stars, sports stars, all that junk, people in the public eye, people worship them, now look, having an admiration to some degree or thinking someone's okay or having a respect for someone isn't necessarily idolatry but when you start worshipping them, when you put them as a god-like figure, when you put them basically in front of god, then it becomes idolatry, doesn't it, and there are many people that do that and of course money and possessions like we've spoken about, so idolatry is worshipping as a god anything or anyone that isn't god, yeah, how bad is idolatry then, how bad is idolatry, is it just a little case of getting your priorities in order, yeah, just oh well, you know, you just got to sort things out a little bit, just got kind of raised up that image a little bit high, god will wait for you to put him first, won't he, yeah, he's gonna, god's long suffering, but he'll wait for you to kind of, it might take you 10, 20 years, you'll get there in the end, won't you, well look at verse seven where we are, verse seven, and the lord said unto Moses go get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said these be thy gods oh Israel which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and the lord said unto Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation so how bad is it god's about to kill them all god's about to wipe out the whole filthy idolatrous lot of them that's how bad it is turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17 he's just written the 10 commandments up there yeah the first one says in Exodus 20 verse three thou shalt have no other gods before me okay he's just written that and then before he even gets down out of the mount they're making idols it's a massive deal god wants to consume them like a fire consumer we had a bonfire the other day and it got a little bit wild you know sometimes these things do yeah and it was hot and it you just put anything in there just consumed it like that I mean you're gonna burn anything you'd have burnt something that was not even flammable that shouldn't have even got burnt it would have just burnt and that's like god yeah god would have consumed them in a split second is that because he hates cows is that why just ah it's just god's got a real aversion to come he does get get a lot of those oxen slaughtered doesn't he is it because he hates cows is it the stupid dancing that was the problem the fact that they bullied Aaron no it's the idolatry okay it's the worshipping of other gods and in dude in deuteronomy chapter 17 we say our god's theocracy was to deal with this sort of thing so look at verse one it says thou shalt not sacrifice unto the lord thy god any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish or any evil favoredness for that is an abomination to the lord thy god if there be found among you within any of thy gates which the lord thy god giveth thee man or man or woman that have wrought wickedness in the sight of the lord thy god in transgressing his covenant and have gone and served other gods and worship them either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of seven which i've hosts of heaven which i've not commanded and it be told thee and now has heard of it and inquired diligently and behold it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in israel does he then say pray for them sit them down and give them a stern talking to try to incorporate into services to be inclusive so that they don't get put off put off by the harshness of the word of god then thou then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked thing unto thy gates even that man or that woman and shout stone them with stones till they die no it's slightly different at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death but at the mouth of one witness witness he shall not be put to death the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people so thou shalt put the evil away from among you god says to kill them because it's evil it's wicked it's putting someone or something above god okay that's a serious sin right turn of first corinthians 10 exodus 22 20 says he that sacrifices unto any god save unto the lord only he shall be utterly destroyed destroyed and how do we sacrifice nowadays well we pray we seek we we worship in one form or another well what does the new testament say you're turning to first corinthians chapter 10 well in first corinthians 10 paul is talking about their fathers in the wilderness and look at verse 5 he says but with many of them god was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted so like an excess 32 uh like sorry excess 32 in other places it's examples for us right neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play so specifically don't be an idolater right okay that's what he said don't be an idolater so you can be an idolater in the new testament can't you now jump forward to verse 11 verse 11 says now all these things happen unto them for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall now you might think i'm okay brother ian i don't even like animals let alone golden cows yeah i've got no no risk of idolatry but there are many forms of idolatry aren't there i hope that i've helped to explain there are many forms of idolatry verse 13 says there has no temptation temptation taking but such as is common to man but god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it so you are able to avoid it how do you do that how do you do that wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry flee run away flee keep away from any suspicion of it if you're a little bit unsure run the other way right just make sure it's nowhere near you there's no there's no hint of it in your life and by the way if you're wondering i've heard that flee a few times in the last few sundays brother ian well that's because first corinthians 6 18 said to flee fornication first timothy 6 11 talk your covetousness said but thou o man of god flee these things interesting that isn't it those first few things on the list the bible says clearly to flee to get away from to run away to run the other direction i mean that shows almost a panic fleeing isn't it just get away that's how we should be with any sorts of forms signs suspicions of idolatry but thou oh man of god flee these things we saw in first timothy 6 11 first corinthians 6 18 flee fornication and here wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry okay flee from idolatry and look he said to flee from it he then goes on to tell them to even avoid foods which could cause a weak christian to stumble at idolatry okay we we should be avoiding anything which which might cause us or even others to stumble at idolatry um when it comes to idolatry now turn back to excess 32 and is that the only place no that's why the last thing that the apostle john said at the end of his epistle of first john is in first john 5 21 little children keep yourselves from idols amen so he ends his epistle little children keep yourselves from idols sounds to me like this is still going to be a problem and he didn't say keep yourself from covetousness he said keep yourself from idols because there are many forms of idolatry okay we can all everyone here you know you need to take heed if you think your stand lest you fall because we can all at some point or other in our lives start getting pulled or drawn into some form of idolatry how bad is idolatry it's serious right serious business it makes god furious it resulted in death by stoning did it not god wants it all destroyed if you notice when you read through it's like wipe them out idolatry wipe this out what it's just just get rid of it he hates it he absolutely hates the worship of anything other than himself and in the new testament we're told to flee it now turn back to excess 32 where moses pleads with god not to destroy them all look at excess 32 in verse 15 and moses turned and went down from the mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand the tables were written on both their sides on the one side and on the other where they're written and the tables were the work of god and the writing was the writing of god graven upon the tables can you imagine how perfect that handwriting was absolutely perfect wouldn't it have been like not one little blemish on it everything just the perfect size and everything just amazing absolutely amazing these were the writing of god graven upon the tables and when joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted he said unto moses there is a noise of war in the camp and this always makes me think of the carnal worldly pentecostal charismatic type work church service yeah the noise of war it's just like you know everyone's just partying and screaming and yelping and you know i feel the spirit and all this sort of stuff and the tongues coming out and everything that's always thinking that when i read this passage and i think that's pretty much what was going on here right because they're basically they're worshiping idol anyway aren't they it's all idol worship and he said it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome but the noise of them that sing do i hear so they think it's warfare and it's actually singing doesn't say much for their singing voices does it and it came to pass as soon as he came nine to the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and moses anger waxed hot and he casts the tables out of his hands and break them beneath the mount those tables that perfect handwriting of god and and look moses just he just flipped out didn't he and moses look moses was described as the meekest man in all the earth right and moses just flipped out and just smashed these these tables of stone with the perfect handwriting of god he just smashed them in two and that's how idolatry should make us feel too shouldn't it was he out of the will of god at this point do you think no be angry and sin not he's not sinning he's angry you could argue well he could have maybe left those those tables alone and smashed something else moses right but he's just lost the plot and understandably right i mean could you imagine that he's only been gone 40 days or so he comes down and they're they're already worshipping golden calves and he took the calf which they had made i always love this bit because remember how they smoked to aaron up make us gods yeah so these guys are like you know the bullying nasty types moses just walks in the middle of the lot of it takes the calf which they had made burnt it in the fire ground it to powder now he now this obviously wasn't just a quick i mean i don't know how quick might have been a hot fire they had there at that point but moses look this anger is going on for a while here and understandably right grant grinds it about strawed it upon the water made the children of israel drink it so these guys are up make us gods to aaron okay moses whatever yeah most of the meekest man upon the face of the earth moses is basically forcing them to drink this grinded powdery gold watery soup stuff and it sounds like they do it he made the children of israel drink it not he tried to mate he made the church of israel drink it i understand that right sometimes when you go past some of these so-called churches you you feel like doing that don't you feel like doing that but did you imagine if i don't know anyone here but imagine i went out of here yeah and like you know okay and said guys i'm just away for a couple of weeks you know came back and worshiping them and look i'm sure everyone else would be the savior right as well but unbelievable isn't it and it is a novel punishment isn't it he's like you want it you want your golden cry and cough you can drink it yeah i'll give you your golden cough well but but here's the thing because this is kind of what happens anyway if you think about it if the word of god is pictured by pure water the idols contaminate it don't they the idols contaminate the pure water of the word of god they change it and the idolater starts to corrupt the word to justify their idolatry don't they so they do it corrupts it that that's what that idol does it corrupts the pure water of the word and they'll do that in many different ways don't they so from one you've got like the the false religion just corrupting the word of god to justify their idolatrous version of god to the next person he's just trying to like like cut out certain parts of bible avoid certain parts to justify their own form of idol worship whatever it is they try and basically they they contaminate the word of god in one way or another don't they well i think moses is showing that there so what is idolatry idolatry is worshiping as a god anything or anyone that isn't god okay how bad is idolatry bad it's bad it makes god mad it results in the death penalty we're told to flee it and it made moses samekes man go on some sort of crazed rampage which everyone here is sitting there going yeah fair enough moses right why is it a sin that gets you kicked out of church then because and just before i say in case you're sitting here thinking well i've been in churches where half the congregation are idolaters brother in and no one got kicked out yeah i'm talking about real churches here right okay real churches and how a real church should run because maybe look maybe you've been at churches well well maybe it was a real church they seem to have the gospel right yeah but but they probably weren't running it how god wants the church run because most churches nowadays it's like numbers numbers get people in get people in and everything else most churches don't then want to kick people out and they'll put up with pretty much anything you know without putting without kicking people out unless you dare to be a soul winner okay some of those churches will kick you out or find a reason to kick you out just for wanting to preach the gospel but we're not talking about those churches here so why does it get you kicked out of this sort of church our sort of church a church that we believe is modeled based upon what the word of god says a church should be like well there's the obvious ongoing theme that we've seen in the last few services at a little leaven leaveneth the whole love right okay and that's what happens with all sorts of sin it starts with a little bit and next thing you know you know it starts with one rat and then you got an infestation okay sins are contagious aren't they and when you're around it you become desensitized right so instead of smashing tables of stone grinding them into powder and forcing people to drink it the desensitizes turn a blind eye and often eventually start partaking whatever form of idolatry it is yeah because like with many sins idolaters want people to join in with them don't they we've just seen that here up make us gods you know then they're saying to everyone else they're going look these are the this be thy god that you know that that brought you out of the land of egypt right but it's it's more than just to justify their sin if you think about it it's it's religion yeah it's religion and religion involves communal worship doesn't it okay and we all like to get together and worship and the idolater wants to get together and worship okay they want that communal worship and look these these guys here like i said they could have made their own personal calves couldn't they i'm sure they knew how to do it they could have made their own personal calf in one way or another but they wanted it to be a group thing they wanted everyone involved didn't they and it started with a meal and ended with a carnal dance off now turn to deuteronomy chapter 13 what's the result of that on a church like ours and trying to encourage others into your idolatry or be it covetousness idolatry of a person or even some sort of image or other you end up with it becoming rife in the church a church full of idolatry and then god's done with it isn't it okay that's it god's done with it god then the chastisement that god starts coming now in deuteronomy 13 it makes me think of the sort of situation where someone is trying to encourage people along to their false god church and that's something we'll have to watch out for here yeah someone coming in and trying to and whether or not it's towards their false god or to their idol some or their false god being preached online or something else people will try and do that start to try and code one of the reasons that i i just don't want people on our whatsapp group just posting sermon after sermon oh well it's all right if it sees sermons well yeah but what's the rules on that oh as long as it's you've you know you know as long as it's nifb do you all want to listen to would you have all wanted to listen to manly perry a couple of years ago yeah do you want to listen to that does anyone want to listen to that sort of stuff look and and one of the things is that then you get people that are new to the church maybe new to sort of what preachers are good and on and go oh i'm going to post this one and then then it starts to get abused well i'm going to post this one because that's going to get them into that this sort of idolatry this this idol that i'm into and look yeah you're not going to become unsaved you're saved you're saved right but you can still get into worshiping idols and worshiping a false god solomon did yeah there's a warnings constantly here to flee idolatry right in the new testament as well now okay so deuteronomy 13 there it says it says if there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass wherever he spake unto thee saying let us go after other gods which thou has not known and let us serve them so this is some sort of preacher religious guy whose sign or wonder is impressive think the holy spirit clowns out there some of that stuff for the people in there they're pretty impressed by that but some people do look you know i'll say as well i think sometimes people can do some amazing stuff sometimes it's not all just a complete fraud and charlatan because there's some weird spiritual stuff going on there it's devils it's devils but sometimes that stuff can come to pass can't it they can do some weird stuff okay so he says in the sign or the one to come to pass where of he spake unto thee saying let us go after other gods which thou has not known let us serve them okay he's enticing you to worship a false god an idol thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the lord your god proveth you to know whether ye love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul so someone does something impressive now do you look at that and go well that must that that false god that idol that false version of god must be right because that person did something miraculous or something else or do you go no what's the word of god say you should say what does the word of god say but many won't right what does the word of god say well because we're being proved there okay ye shall walk after the lord your god and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him okay look don't get your head turned by any of this weird idolatry whatever version it is gurus that seem to just get everything right about the world or anything else keep away from that rubbish yeah and that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because you have spoken to turn your way from the lord your god which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage to thrust thee out of the way which the lord thy god commanded thee to walk in so shall they put the evil away from the midst of thee so that's what they're trying to do to get you to turn away from god and worship idols aren't they okay that's what these people want you to do that's what the the people pushing idolatry they're trying to get you to join them right if thy brother the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is in thine own soul entice he secretly saying let us go and serve other gods which thou has not known thou nor thy fathers so this makes you think of someone either close to you or creeping into the church to pull you out pull you out after some sort of idol or other namely of the gods of the people which are round about you nigh unto thee or far off from thee from the one end of the earth even unto the under end of the earth thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him neither shall down line i pity him neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him he's saying don't pity these people okay look it doesn't matter how close you were how close you are if someone's trying to do that it's wicked yeah and we were talking about another way people could try and do that as well just something because i was listening to a bit of preacher on this recently and it made me think it's something i want to cover here so calvinism calvinism you you these people try and sneak into churches and slowly try and pull people into their calvinistic false god okay they're idle and they do it they know full well we don't believe it they still choose to come to churches like ours and try and pull people away after their false god yeah and that's what and and look it doesn't matter how friendly you get with these people and they're subtle about it and it's a subtle one isn't it because oh it old king james bible oh yeah but what they'll do is try and impress you with their because they always try and come across intellectual don't they the cow oh yeah well you know when you go into you know the doctrines of grace and blah blah blah and it all just sounds so theological and so clever doesn't it and people get conned by that stuff and next thing you know they're down you know they're being pulled out into some sort of calvinistic beliefs now look if they're saved they're saved right but you think they won't save people that can be pulled away onto these sorts of idols they can right okay so that's something we need to watch out for here as well with time because that does and has happened at other churches okay so where are we where were we verse verse eight was it or did we did we um yeah verse eight i think we've just done yeah thou shalt not consent unto nor hearken unto him neither shall i nigh pity you neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him but thou shalt surely kill him okay just by the way we're in the new testament here so in case anyone misinterprets me here you can't kill the calvinist or any of these other idolater types that come in here but there is a way we do spiritually kill them in one way or another or however you want to call it is we get rid of them out of the church right but he said thou shalt surely kill him thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people and thou shalt stone him with stones that he die because he have sought to thrust thee away from the lord thy god which brought thee out of the land of egypt from the house of bondage and all israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you and like i said new test we don't stone them but we do kick them out of the church don't we and here god's saying it doesn't matter how close you are to them they're trying to thrust you away from the lord your god okay just remember that remember that they're trying to pull you away thrust you away from the lord your god not lose your salvation but just pull your way out of the things of god right and get you worshiping the rider now go back to excess 32 we're nearly done here where moses gets those on the lord's side to deal with the wickedness so aaron explains what happens tries to play down his involvement a little he says in verse 24 and i said unto them whosoever have any gold let them break it off so they gave it me then i cast it into the fire and there came out this calf you know how that happens you slow some fire in the car and next thing you know it's a calf yeah because all he did was just kind of throw the gold in there so aaron tries to blag his way out of it and when moses saw that the people were naked for aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies then moses stood in the gate of the camp i mean this is some weird worship they're doing here isn't it yeah that's idolaters for you right and when moses saw the people were naked so no verse 26 then moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the lord's side let him come unto me and all the sons of levi gather themselves together unto him i love that verse yeah who is on the lord's side who is on the lord's side and the sons of levi come and gather okay they're the people that have been closest to the word of god aren't they they're the people that have been doing doing most for the lord and they just come and gather to him and he said unto them thus saith the lord god of israel put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbor and the children of levi did according to the word of moses and they felt of the people that day about three thousand men and now and then in church life you have to decide whose side you're on don't you now and now and then in church life you have to decide well whose side am i on and get rid of the people that we're told to get rid of even if it's your brother your companion or your neighbor like we see here okay and we've had that we had that here and people decided whose side am i on you know and and you know that was a great i remember like that that was a great i'll probably be going on about this for years it's because that was that was an amazing day yeah that was an amazing day and you know like one of the one of the the the best bits for me was when we had like people trying to shout and slander and just lost their like all decor like any sense of just just just sort of order was going and then do you know what ended that was when i just said i just said did i think i said i said to the people i just said um does anyone here because someone's shouting hey you're on a power trip i said does anyone here think i'm on a power trip and the lord's people said no i said does anyone here think i think i said um at all i said and all the lord's people i think i said said amen and they all just went amen and then they left and that was that was the people of god just standing up and just saying no we're on the lord's side here yeah you come into a church like ours and try and rip people out of our church and destroy our church it's wicked isn't it but but we're gonna have to remember that in the future won't we look i preached this morning we've got a great unity here we've got a great church here great church people that love the lord but on the same hand you know there are going to be times in the future where we have to make a decision whose side am i yeah there's going to be people that come in and even if it's your brother your companion your neighbor if they're trying to pull you away from god you got to say no i'm on the lord's side and it might be that you have to get that spiritual javelin and thrust them through like like the men of levi did what is idolatry idolatry is worshiping as a god anything or anyone that isn't god how bad is idolatry bad okay it makes god mad but it is bad it results in the death penalty okay we're told to flee it and it made moses samikas man go on a rampage right why is it a sin that gets you kicked out of church because the idolaters seek others to join in and that idolatry is trying to pull you away from god okay they want communal worship they want you to join in with them okay that's why we kick them out and that was sins that get you kicked out of the church idolatry let's pray father thank you um for just the clear teachings you give us out of the word of god about this wicked sin of idolatry and and you know something that we need to watch out for in a church and something maybe we don't think about so much and we just kind of think of as associated with sort of graven image worship and of course that is idolatry but there are many forms of idolatry help us to keep an eye out for help us to avoid it help us to flee from it help us to just just worship you in in spirit and in truth and and lord and just keep away from all these other wicked versions of you claiming to be versions of you and help us just worship the one true god lord and and help us to to to encourage others to do the same help us to encourage others to to put away those false gods help us to encourage others to put their faith in you lord and and and help us to preach the gospel this week help us to to all return here on wednesday and and and on sunday too for another day in your house in just name pray all of this amen