One Way Street
Among the Ruins • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsFollowing the Lord is a one way street.
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Following Jesus is a one way street
Following Jesus is a one way street
I stumbled across Dean Koontz a number of years ago.
I’ve read several of his books - they typically scare the bejebbers out of me.
But one series he wrote was a bit different.
Has anyone heard of “Odd Thomas?”
Thomas is the main character in a series of seven books.
The first couple of books and the last couple were good.
The middle books were “meh.”
But Thomas has a peculiar ability that made him “odd.”
He could see things.
He could see dead people and communicate with them.
And he could see bodaches.
Think demons.
I didn’t know until I was preparing for today, but a bodach is the Irish bogeyman.
Koontz appropriated their lore - used that name for his book.
Anyway, think with me here - use your imagination.
A bodach is a black form - humanoid - but it doesn’t walk upright.
It’s like a solid black Spiderman.
They can walk on the ceilings and on walls.
They are plainly all black shapes but you can and can’t see their eyes all at the same time.
It’s like they are an optical illusion yet you know they are there.
Can you see them?
Now, when Thomas sees Bodaches, he knows something bad is going to happen.
And the more he sees, the worse the event.
In one of the books there is a gunman loose in a mall and the place is swarming with bodaches.
They feed off evil - their is nothing good about them.
Can you see them in your mind’s eye?
Good - hold that thought.
Our text today is 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.
Paul, at last, is almost finishing up his discussion of eating meat sacrificed to idols.
The Corinthians had written him a letter asking if it was OK to go to the pagan temple worship services and cook outs.
And obviously they wrote a quite impassioned letter.
Because Paul took 2 1/2 chapters to answer them.
He wanted to be thorough - and he wanted to lead them somewhere.
Today is almost the final destination for this topic.
If you are joining us via live stream or podcast, we are honored the Lord led you to our services.
We pray you are blessed and if you are able, please join us in person.
It would mean so much to see you face to face,
And if you are visiting with us, we are seriously grateful for you as well.
Our hope is the Lord speaks to your spirit and that you feel like FBC-Gray is home.
Let’s join our hearts as we hear the Word of the Lord from 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
You instructed us to pray that - and now we do.
Keep our hears focused solely on you so we can hear your word and honor your name.
Lord, even as I am forgiven, I still answer to the calls of my flesh sometimes.
Please let nothing I have done or said stand between your word and your people.
In Jesus’ name - Amen.
1 Corinthians 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Therefore - based on everything Austin preached about last week.
Based on what the Hebrew children did in the wilderness.
Based on the fact that they relished pleasure over God.
Based on the fact that they were sexually immoral.
Based on the fact that they grumbled.
Based on the fact that a faithful God loved them so much that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability.
And that He always provides a way of escape.
Because of all of that, flee from idolatry.
The word flee feels unamerican, doesn’t it?
Flee
Turn tail and run.
Instead of facing it and withstanding it like a man, run like a scared puppy.
That’s what flee sounds like.
But that’s not right.
Flee means to “Move quickly from an area in order to avoid... danger or difficulty.”
Flee is not cowardly, flee is smart.
There’s danger here - get out and get out as fast as you can.
It’s a basic human instinct - fight or flight.
In the case of idolatry - it’s flight.
1 Corinthians 10:15 “I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.”
Sensible - wise - able to understand the things of every day life.
People with common sense.
He created us with common sense - he expects us to use it.
“I wonder if it’s God’s will to drive 120 miles per hour up all the way to Eatonton.”
No - it’s not God’s will for you to do stupid stuff.
We are sensible people, able to understand the world around us.
Sometimes we want to make Jesus hard to understand, but He isn’t .
Jesus makes sense and what Paul is explaining makes sense.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
This scripture had a lot of fun words - blessing being one of them.
Blessing is a compound word - it’s good added to word.
It’s the cup of a good word - and we say a good word over it.
And it is a good word - it’s the cup of redemption - it’s bring dead people back to life.
It’s the cup that frees folks in bondage
Who have fought and struggled to find their way until one day they find Jesus.
And they know they’ve been made new.
That’s a good word - that’s a blessing.
So this cup that we’ll take in just a little while, it’s a blessing AND it’s a participation in the blood of Christ.
The word participation translates the word koinonia.
Have you ever heard of that word?
Yeah, it means fellowship.
It was all the rage some years back to preach on koinonia.
Now, you are sensible people, think this through with me.
In the Southern Baptist church, anytime we have an eating thing, we call it a fellowship.
We get together, eat and talk.
But now let’s add a dimension to it because it’s really more than eating and talking.
When I asked Renee’ to marry me - the second time - at the Krystal on Vineville Avenue
We weren’t just eating a really good greasy burger and pretty soggy french fries together.
We were sharing something much deeper.
We cared for each other and our words and actions showed that.
That’s our fellowship when we take the Lord’s Supper.
When you step out of that pew to come forward, forget what that might say to the world.
And think about what it says about you to your brothers and sisters.
You are declaring - without words - that you are one of them.
That, come what may, you can count on me to stand with you.
And I’m counting on you to stand with me.
That’s fellowship - not just eating and laughing together.
It’s eating with your closest family.
We are - in fact - blood relatives now.
And we are participating - we are fellowshipping in the blood of Christ.
That’s what Paul saying: Jesus is here.
Listen to Jesus Matthew 18:18-20
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
We are agreeing with this cup that Jesus saves.
We are agreeing with this cup that the good word is that no matter how deep your hurt, no matter how deep your pain,
Jesus knows and he heals and he redeems, He makes you brand new.
We are agreeing to anyone who watches and listens, Jesus will save you.
And we are saying to one another, I know your past, you know my past - and we know that we know that we know
That we have forgiven each other because we are forgiven by Jesus and we both have recieved a brand new start.
Because of Jesus we know that right now.
If you will do this.
When you come down to receive the Lord’s Supper in a bit - look over my shoulder.
Look over whoever’s shoulder is serving you, and imagine seeing Jesus standing there.
Because He is.
It’s His sinless body broken - it’s His precious blood that was spilled.
To reconcile us of all of our sin, and all of our hurts - and to make us one people in His name.
1 Corinthians 10:18-19 “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?”
Now here is where Paul turns his argument and we don’t want to miss it.
Are not the Israelites who eat the sacrifices having fellowship with God?
The expected answer is yes they are.
So, since we are sensible people, using that same logic then that eating the sacrifices to idols is fellowship with the idol
But how can that be since an idol isn’t anything?
Here’s where he drops the hammer.
1 Corinthians 10:20-21 “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
Lord protect us - Do you know who Baphomet is?
The satanic church in Detroit had a bronze statue made of Baphomet.
It is a representation of satan.
It is half man half goat.
It is half man and half woman.
And if you read their description of all of the symbolism, it the representation of all that is good about being human.
It has one hand in a two fingered salute towards the heavens and two fingers in a salute towards the earth.
You’ve heard this phrase somewhere, right?
“On earth as it is in heaven?”
And why not.
Satan rebelled in heaven and was cast out.
He was an angel of light who wanted the glory of God for himself.
Of course he uses God language, he thinks he is God’s equal.
He thinks he is better than God.
Baphomet is an idol.
But if we could see demons like Thomas can see bodaches, that statue would be teeming with them.
The hall that contains the statue would be teeming with them.
The two innocent children statues, staring up adoringly at the idol would have them hanging all over them.
Demons.
See, Paul says, there is not a god where you are at these pagan feasts - but there are demons.
And everyone around you at their worship service is worshipping that statue.
But anything that happens as a result of that worship is effected by the demons.
And when you go with them - and you participate in their worship like it’s fun and games.
You are placing yourself directly in the demons line of fire.
You are unwittingly fellowshipping with demons.
Paul says, you cannot do that.
That is wrong - totally, completely, unequivocally.
In fact, if you are truly sensible you will flee - You will move quickly from an area in order to avoid...danger...
Because you are in danger.
I was in my early 20’s.
I asked a young lady on a date to go to the Omni in Atlanta to see the Fleetwood Mac concert.
Fleetwood Mac made great music.
Stevie Nicks, one of the singers, wrote a song titled “Rhiannon” which was about a Welsh witch.
And Stevie dressed like a witch and danced onstage in ways that made you think you were seeing a witch.
15 minutes into the concert I took my date’s hand and we left.
Every hair on my neck was standing on end.
If I could have seen them, the stage would have been covered in demons.
Brother Randy, you are getting a little weird here.
Yeah?
I believe in demons - Paul does too.
There are angels - there are demons.
Can demon’s possess a Christian?
No, they cannot.
Remember this word from John, 1 John 4:4
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Greater is he who is in you.
You are “possessed” if you will, by the Holy Spirit.
You cannot be possessed by a demon.
A demon cannot enter your mind.
A demon is not omniscient, omnipresent or omnipotent.
Only the Lord is those things.
Demons are limited in what they can do.
Can demon’s possess non-Christians?
Yes - and I started to post two slides showing you that.
One slide was a picture of the Baphomet statue.
The other slide was a picture of a man dressed in drag at one of the supposedly harmless drag queen story hours.
The resemblance was amazing.
I couldn’t pull the trigger on that one though.
It felt like I would be desecrating this holy place.
But I’m as certain as a mortal man can be that that man reading books to children dressed in drag was possessed.
So does Paul want them to not go to the idol worship because the demons might make them do bad things?
No - demons can’t make you do bad things.
The devil made me do it is a lie - he doesn’t make us do anything.
What demons do though, is they entice us to follow our flesh.
Listen to Jesus, Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
The evil, the sin already resides in your flesh and it wants out.
And you know what you know, because you are sensible.
You know I’m right.
I don’t know if any of you know who Dennis Prager is - he’s the founder of Prager University.
Very conservative - they are known for publishing short - and long form - videos that have caused many people to see current liberalism for what it is.
But Prager got in very hot water recently when he said that pornography wasn’t bad if it was a substitute for adultery.
The Federalist wrote a great article on “14 Reasons Prager is Wrong About Porn.”
But here is our point - sexual immorality is already in our flesh.
The demons cannot make you be sexually immoral.
But they can entice you - using your own weakness - to lead you to be sexually immoral.
And if you could see the demons like Thomas sees bodaches, when you open your browser to a porn site, the room fills with demons.
Sitting in your car watching porn on your phone
You aren’t sitting alone - the demons are there, enticing you, drawing you away from the Lord.
You don’t get to do this.
Following Jesus is a one way street.
You don’t get to go towards evil and towards Jesus - those are two different directions.
Pastor, that’s hard.
Yes - it’s a struggle.
Whether is is petty lying or homosexuality or any other fleshly proclivity any human being might have - it’s extremely difficult.
Because the demons don’t want you relying on Jesus.
They want you to rely on you.
Because they know if you do, you will fail.
But there is even more to playing both sides of the road.
1 Corinthians 10:22 “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”
Remember what Austin preached - the Lord punished the Hebrew children when they disobeyed Him?
But Pastor Randy, new testament -Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Right no condemnation - if you are His, then you are His - He will never leave or forsake you - which really drives this home.
But, Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Some of us ask over and over, why is my life so hard?
Let me ask you, where are you worshipping? Besides here, where are you worshipping.
Yes, you come here on Sunday, but where are you the rest of the time?
If you were Thomas and could see the spirits, what would the places you go to look like?
What would the places you go to look like.
Listen, we are sensible people.
We know, we KNOW how hard it is to battle the things we want
With two especially’s
Especially if we fall into addiction - that’s a bear beyond my comprehension.
And second especially, especially if it is socially acceptable.
“I love Jesus, yes I do. I love Jesus and money too - that’s what it’s meant to be an American.
Only problem - Jesus lives on a one way street.
I know it’s hard, I do - I have walked the road.
But I’ve learned - I’d rather have Jesus than anything.
And I promise you, the closer you get to Him, the more you depend on him.
And the more you depend on Him, the more content you will be.
I want this for you.
And I hope and pray you want it for yourself.
Let us pray.
The Lord’s Supper
We’ve already talked about the Lord’s Supper.
As you come down in a moment, see Jesus over our shoulders.
Look around at all of the people who believe like you, who struggle like you and who will stand with you.
And feel good inside - because we have hope.
The world is pretty dark and it’s covered in demons.
But this room, right now, this moment - if we could see - is covered in angels.
Ministering Jesus
To His people.
As our Deacons come forward to serve, let’s examine our hearts and remember the good word from Jesus.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Join me as we pray a good word over this cup of good words we are about to receive. (Pray)
If you were baptized by immersion after you were saved, you may come an participate.
Please exit your pews to the left and come forward.
You may eat the bread when you receive it.
The gluten free bread is at ______________________ station.
Please come forward now to fellowship with Jesus and one another.