Sermon Tone Analysis

A teacher asked her students what religious objects they had in their homes.

One boy answered, "We have a picture of a woman with a halo holding a baby and every day my mother kneels in front of it."

The next little boy said, "We have a brass statue of a man seated with crossed legs and a Chinese face, and every day my parents burn an incense stick before it."

Then a third boy piped up, "In the bathroom we have a little platform with numbers on it.

Every day my mother stands on it first thing in the morning and screams out to God.

Historical/Cultural Context -

Paul preached the gospel in Corinth in the early 50s AD during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18).

When opposition grew fierce there, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in a vision assuring him that he had ‘many people’ in the city (Acts 18:10).

With this encouragement, Paul stayed on for eighteen months, ‘teaching them the word of God’ (Acts 18:11).

God used Paul’s ministry to bring about the birth and establishment of the church in Corinth.

Biblical Text -

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Watch Out For Idols In Your Life, Be On Guard From Your Enemy.

Life Point- Idol Worship Is Detestable Before God

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

Last week we talked about sin & temptation

Paul had just talked about Israel in the Desert and their sinning, their complaining, their immorality.

But now Paul talks about Idolatry.

This is in the same vein as what he has been writing about.

One of Israel’s greatest problems was idolatry.

They would walk away from the True God and worship idols.

Then God would bring judgment and they would be good for a while and then would turn right back to detestable idol worship practices.

Such as worshipping Moloch or Asherah.

The worship of Moloch involved human child sacrifice.

They would heat a large bronze statue until it was glowing hot.

On the front of the statue were holes big enough to fit a baby inside.

Then they would lay their baby inside those holes and do their worship of Moloch as the child is literally cooked to death.

Asherah worship was great perversion before God.

The Jews would take this so called goddess and pair her with the worship of Elohim (that is God) making her out to be His wife.

God condemns this many times in scripture.

Don’t think that as Christians in the modern era that we are excused from this.

What is an idol?

An idol is anything that you put first priority in your life.

Anything that takes the place of God in your heart.

TV can be an idol.

I’m not talking about American idol either.

Alcohol can be an idol

Gossip or having the inside track, can be an idol.

The one that seems to always slip up Christians is making the past an idol.

The past, where God did a wonderful work in you and your community can be an idol.

You get so fixated on it that you miss the work God is currently doing and then the church, meaning the people, stop growing spiritually and numerically.

Don’t put idol worship before God.

So what happens when we make communion with our idol or holy cow and then turn and try to worship God?

Do you think God enjoys this?

No, it is a slap in the face.

Shouldn’t Christians know better?

Yes, seeing that if a Christian truly belongs to God he has the Holy Spirit living in him.

But do Christians still try to do this?

Yes, because we still have a sin nature.

Even Paul bemoaned the sin nature.

This war with sin is a battle that every Christian has.

Not, necessarily, the same old habitual sin but sin in general.

We are constantly convicted of sin, as we get rid of one thing, then the Holy Spirit shows us something else to get rid of.

If what I just said doesn’t make sense to you, then you need to question if you’re truly saved or not, if your truly redeemed by the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross or not.

The only way for a christian to lose this battle is to stop fighting and surrender to sin.

But you see the true christian knows Proverbs 24:16

The true Christian will never just give in to sin.

Oh, there will be times of despair.

Times of despairing even your life, but truly the regenerate man cannot stay in that condition.

The true Christian perseveres to the end because they are a true Christian.

They have been made new.

This is not just hyperbole, a turn of phrase or a way of thinking.

This is in reality, we are made new.

The things you used to love doing in your sinfulness that didn’t bother you, now annoys the fire out of you and when you do sin it is not just a prick in the heart that says “twidley dee I shouldn’t do that.”

No, it is a true conviction that burns in your heart.

Not that you did it and got caught by God.

But you know that sin, no matter how big or small to you, breaks God’s heart and that He wants better for you.

That sin hurts God’s heart, that if you say you love Him and then sin you know that you have broken something in yourself, that is your communion with God and you feel like a hypocrite and you feel awful that you now must go to the creator of the universe and say that you are sorry.

Words do not exist to convey the deepness of sorrow over sin to the Christian who sins.

It is beyond words, the sorrow and the angst on the inside of you when you sin as a Christian.

It is also beyond words the forgiveness and the love that when you do sin, you have an advocate with the father and forgiveness, repentance, love and sanctification that comes when you confess your sins to God.

When it comes to idol worship for the Christian, it should not be.

For we are united with Christ and the Holy Communion is the physical act that reminds us that we are one with Christ.

That we are God’s new creation.

This is why communion has a warning with it.

Illustration -

Speaking of Idols, As a Christian I am quite offended.

I can't Believe there are Billy Idol Cover Bands.

The Bible is very clear that we should not have False Idols

Life Point - Don’t Worship Demons

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

You would think that this would be a no brainer right?

But there are a few things here we need to answer:

1) Didn’t Paul say he could eat meat sacrificed to idols?

Good catch, yes he did.

You see he wasn’t the one doing the sacrificing.

So he could eat the food.

It is one thing to eat dinner and another thing to participate in the worship of idols.

No Christian should worship at the altar of demons.

2) Pastor are you telling me demons are real?

Yes, Yes I am.

They are the ones behind many false religions even to this day.

I will not participate in Hindu worship, Buddha worship or Mormon temple worship.

These are all examples of false religions.

I believe all false religions are backed by the demonic to trap people in them so they will not turn to Christ.

Before you ask, NO.

Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons & Catholics are not Christian.

Catholics add work to salvation and worship idols that they call saints.