No Other Gods

Scripture

Exodus 20:3 ““You shall have no other gods before me.”

Apologetics

1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Jude 3 “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Intro

I’m excited that A&M beat LSU last night, but all the more excited that God supplies all my needs

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

The excitement of football is fleeting, but the salvation of God is everlasting

When God tells us to have no other gods before Him it is because He is worthy and no other god can satisfy our desires

What is an idol?

Anything we worship other than God

Worship is laying our lives down to serve another

What are we sacrificing to?

Another way to look at it; What are we trusting in to supply our needs?

Jeremiah 44:16–18 ““As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.””

What do people expect from their idols?

Blessings

Protection

Security

Prosperity

We want what we want when we want it, so we make gods that will suit our passions

Exodus 32:1–4 “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!””

In worshiping the creation rather than the Creator we dumb ourselves down

Psalm 135:15–18 “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.”

Romans 1:21–23 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Romans 1:24–25 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

We were made to worship

We will worship something or someone

Who are we worhsiping?

Other gods in our midst

Idols in our midst

Rabbit’s feet

Horse shoe

Statues and figurines of Buddha

Crystals

Kissing the feet of statues

Emblems of saints carried around for protection, good luck, and so on

Dream catchers

Karma

Luck

Superstitions

Knocking on wood

Temple of pleasure

Food

Sex

Entertainment

Temple of power

Success

Money

Achievement

Temple of love

Romance

Sex

Beauty

Family

Me

Good things that can become idols

Family

Church

In an attempt to justify the gods in our image there are those who say “The Bible is an idol.”

Most certainly not

We do not worship the Bible, we worship the God of the Bible

Those who say this want to make God in their own image and worship what they know

“God is inside of you.”

“Be true to yourself.”

“What does your heart tell you?”

Why can’t we have other gods?

We were made to worship the One True God

When we worship God it is well with our hearts and lives

Christians in other parts of the world can have their lives taken from them

The land they live in is evil but God will reward them

In America we have squandered the blessings of God by worshiping other gods

We now have more persecution

Worshiping God leads to life

When we worship other gods

Our hope is in the wrong place

At the core they are demonic

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy

They lead to death

You can tell when someone has “sold their soul” to power

They will cheat anyone

Their family gets ignored

Their lives are anything but holy

Why is this an important word for today?

We are strangers in this world passing through. Our world is filled with evil and lusts of the mind and heart. We see other gods being worshipped constantly and are invited to join in. Some idols are obvious and some are deceptive. We must guard our hearts that we do not veer off the path of righteousness, and that we will be a light to the world around us. We have what they are looking for. Some will listen and come to the light. Some will attempt to extinguish the light. We must remember to stay true to God, He is the only one who can save. Remember, the God of the universe and sent His Spirit to dwell in you, nothing is more powerful or can do more for you.

The One True God, the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, has created you to be with Him. He has given you all things that pertain to life. What can be greater than His Spirit who dwells in us? There is no other place to look for what we need than God. Be filled with His Spirit, purge the evil in your heart, and trust God to supply all your needs.

Other Scripture

Ezekiel 14:3–7 ESV

“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself.

1 Corinthians 10:18–20 “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.”

1 Samuel 15:22–23 “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.””

Presumption - NASB, insubordination; CSB, defiance is as wickedness; KJV, stubbornness; NIV, arrogance is like the evil of idolatry

It’s not just about what is in your face and what you have physically bowed down to but what is in your heart

Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Benediction

According to the riches of the glory of God, may He grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:14-19