Idolatry

Ezekiel 14:1–11 (NASB95)

Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?

“Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,

in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.” ’

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.

“For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person.

“I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord.

“But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the Lord, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

“They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be,

in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,” ’ declares the Lord God.”

As we read Ezekiel 14, we see a couple of interesting things here.

Vs. 1-3 These men have set up idols in their hearts and have put right in front of their eyes a stumbling block of their iniquity and they want me to consult them?

Vs. 4-6 Tell them this: Any man that sets up idols in their hearts and the stumbling block right in their eyes, and comes to the prophet, I WILL ANSWER THEM MYSELF about the multitude of their idols, so I can get their attention - tell them to turn away from their idols and abominations.

We live in a world, a land full of idols. It is easy for us as believers to see the idols of the world, but let me ask this.

The sin of idolatry is mentioned throughout the Bible.

Why did Israel go away from the Lord and go into captivity? Idolatry.

Do believers get caught up in idolatry?

Our hearts are little smelting pots for idols.

You know, this is one of the things that we look for while counseling. When we start asking some questions we are looking for what is leading the persons life. The Gospel, idol and/or sin. It doesnt take long to find a person’s idol, their conversations normally expose them if you talk enough.

We want to say we don’t worship idols, but we also get caught up in it just like anyone else. We let other desires and goals dethrone our Savior and His gospel and become entrenched and they rule our lives.

These idols impact everything in our lives. The affect our marriages, our relationships, our decisions, our walk with Christ.

This morning, I want to spend a few minutes on this.

What is idolatry?

Let’s start by asking, what is the greatest commandment is?

Matthew 22:37-38 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment.

‌So…wouldn’t the definition of idolatry be similar?

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Anything or anyone that captures our hearts, minds and affections more than God and Something we give our worship to other than God.

I guess you you can state it like “you love ____________ with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”.

It really is what is holding us in bondage. It’s our sin.

The physical sin, the end result is only the symptom, there is always a deeper idol that we are satisfying.

Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever

So, what is the problem in Romans 1?

They exchanged truth for a lie (we see that everywhere)

They Worship and Served the creature or created rather than the Creator

How does idols start in our lives?

Ezekiel 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts

Although the Lord is talking to Ezekiel here, we know according to Ecclesiastes 1, what has been done before, will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun.

We set them up in our hearts.

Pastor Joe has given a couple of references and sermons about sheep from God’s word. If you recall, sheep are pretty dumb animals. Sheep need a lot of guidance. They need a shepherd to keep them safe, to show them the way.

I think what happens with our idols start innocent and over time, we create a reliance on these idols and eventually, we are knee deep in idol worship.

It’s hard for us to see that we are in idolatry. We don’t see it. Sometimes we look at that as being a pagan worship, an Old Testament thing or in a country or religion that has them. They do, but so do we.

Our idols may not be statues, but they sure do run our lives. We worship them. We give our time to them and as the next bit of the passage in Ezekiel 14:3 says,

and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity

Our idols cause us to sin

A couple of years ago, I was asked to meet with a guy by a Pastor in the area. This guy, identifies himself as a believer, but he was having an affair, but saw nothing wrong with it.

He actually said that his wife and he hadn’t gotten along in a long time, that she was too busy with the kids, that they hadn’t had sex in years, and were now unequally yoked and “the lord” introduced him to another woman. She did things for him that his wife didn’t do. So, in his mind she was specifically made for him.

So, his idol? SEX.

That may be an extreme case, but we are prone to worship and if we aren’t giving our worship, our heart to God, we will give it elsewhere.

Comfort, Security, Money, Retirement, Approval, Power, Politics, Sex, Reputation, Appearance, Knowledge, Our Work, Friendships and Significance

‌‌They start with our not placing the Gospel first in our hearts.

When begin pursuing anything or anyone but Christ, there is a threat of idolatry and it will sneak in.

Unfortunately, we have a hard time seeing idols in our own lives.

How do we identify our idols?

First, we have to recognize that it is going to be hard for us to see it in our own power.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

We know outside of salvation, outside of Christ, outside of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are WICKED. So how would we in our own power be able to see anything wicked that we are doing?

We have to EXAMINE and ourselves.

Paul says is a couple different places that a believer is to examine themselves.

1 Corinthians 11:27-28 tells us “27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you [e]fail the test?

And Peter says in 2 Peter 1:10 brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

And then, we go to the Psalms.

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

I can’t think of a more dangerous or scary prayer. When we go to God and tell Him to search our heart, He will find something, but we need to do this from time to time.

What do we do to stay away from idols?

We surrender them to the Lord. We lay them down. We walk away from them. We surrender our lives to Christ only.

How do we do this?

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If we keep our eyes, our affections first and foremost on Christ, there is no room for idols.

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This is the importance of why we should remind ourselves often, daily, moment by moment of the Gospel.

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Our walk and our salvation is dependant on Christ alone, through faith alone. Nothing else.

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Not works, not our being nice, not our being good…only through Christ alone, through faith alone.

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So how do we combat idols?

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First, we need to recognize that we will battle them.

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We have to remember that we are in a battle and as Ephesians 6:12 say,

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This is a fight! And we are fighting against supernatural forces that knows who we are. They know our weaknesses, they know our faults.