All right, Leviticus chapter 19, let's read verse four. Leviticus 19, four. Simply says, turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. Now we've been in the first three verses here for a few weeks talking about these things that the Lord spake here as he's given the moral law to Israel. And we've talked about idolatry quite a bit. I have through the years because it is a major subject in the Bible. I don't think you can overdo it on things that God talks a lot about. I think preachers ought to talk a lot about them instead of a bunch of other junk. Idolatry is a big problem. And most people have this idea that idolatry is something that happened a long time ago and it's when you make little images and you worship them. Well, there's a lot more to idolatry than that. It's not a dead thing. It's not something that people don't do anymore. It's more alive now than it's ever been, more common than it ever has been. What is an idol? And why would anyone turn to one? He says here, turn you not unto idols. Well, that it begins with the word turn. That's the first word in the verse. Turn ye not unto idols. So, think with me. So an idol is something that will require you to turn from God and His will. Turn not to idols. It's something you're gonna do. If you're gonna be caught up in idolatry, at some point you're gonna turn. An idol requires a change. Now listen to me. You gotta change. When you turn to idolatry, when you turn to an idol, it involves a change. You're changing something. You ever know anybody change anything? Oh, I used to go to church with people that said they believed just like we believe now. but they don't anymore. You want to know something else? They don't live like they used to either when they said they believed this way. A lot of things came with the whole load of stuff, idolatry, that they didn't even mention. Maybe they didn't even think of then. It started with a change and boys just kept on changing. They don't live the same way. They don't dress the same way. They don't hang with the same people anymore. Their life's totally different. What they intake into their life's completely different from what it used to be. That's what God said, don't turn to idols because it's a change. It's a change. It requires a change. If you turn to idols, it requires a change of opinion. You're gonna change your opinions about things. Do you ever know anybody that changed their opinion about things? You'll change your moral standards. Now, when you turn to idols from a holy God, which way are you going to go morally? Are you going to get more rigid in your moral standards? No. No, you're not. In fact, that's one of the major reasons people turn to idolatry is because they're tempted to sin or they're already involved in it and they're seeking to justify themselves in it. So they just make up their own rules. They make up, they imagine in their mind that God is okay with what they're doing. You're turning to idols when you do that. That's exactly what it is. You may not have your little doll that you worship, or your little statue, or your big tall statue, but you're an idolater just as real as one of them. They just, their stupidity and foolishness is just, Blazing bold, right? I mean, it's for everybody to see and say, wow, how ridiculous. Yours is coated in religion that you still call him your savior, but he's not your Lord. You do as you please. You changed the way you think of God. You changed your opinion of God. You changed your opinion of sin. You changed your opinion of what's morally right and wrong. Change your moral standard, change your lifestyle, change your associations. People that turn to idols go worship with somebody else. Amen. That's what they do. They never stay with the same crowd because they've changed. They've changed their mind, their opinions, their affections. They've changed what they believe. So they must find somebody else. to believe with them because they can't get along with people who don't believe that stuff. They went out from us because they were not of us. That's why they went out. They turned Well, did they turn to God? Now if we, you know, if we get left behind and we're ungodly and living wicked and they live better than us, then it's a sign that we've turned to idols and they're following God. But it's not that way. I've been in church a long time. I've watched a lot of people go out and I can't tell you I don't know if I can tell you any of them that went out and actually lived a holier life and stayed closer and grew closer to the Lord. They've all become worldly and immoral and living in fornication and every other kind of wickedness that you can imagine. That's right. Believe it or not, that's the way it is. Surely, if you're watching, you've seen the same thing. An idol requires you to move from one place or position to another. So turn not to idols, turn ye not unto idols. You're going to change, you're going to move, you're going to leave, you're going to change your fellowship, your social contacts and everything. An idol will almost always call you away from holiness and righteousness. Show me the idolaters in the Bible. Go through there and study every instance that he gives of people who were given to idolatry. Were they moral or immoral people? Immoral, always. Were they kind and thoughtful and treated other people right? Or were they wicked and violent and mean? They were wicked and violent and mean. Even to themselves. Those idolaters on Mount Carmel that day, they leaped upon the altar and cut themselves. Self-harm. It's because they're an idolater. They have turned away from God. That's why they do that stuff. Invariably. Yes. An idol will call you away from holiness and righteousness. And it'll call you to tolerance. That's how it starts. Better watch that. Being tolerant. Being sympathetic. Trying to understand. Trying to put yourself in their shoes when it comes to moral issues and wickedness. You understand what I'm talking to you about. I was reading about one of the politicians today, it's a woman, and said that her father, he campaigned against same-sex marriage and all this and other moral issues and all the time she was growing up, she was with him on it and as late as like 2009, she was with him campaigning for not approving, for not sanctioning homosexual marriage or anything like that. But it said since she had been around them in the service and got to know them and all and she had changed her mind You know, they're really good people That's why God didn't want that his people Associating with the heathen of the land lest they lest you learn their ways and they turn your heart away from me heathen worship idols Sodomites are idolaters. They may say they don't believe in nothing, no God. That don't mean nothing. That means they're an idolater. They've turned away from God. They do worship. They worship themselves. They worship their immoral practices. But tolerance is the first thing that you'll encounter when idolatry is trying to woo you away from God. This matter of turning away from God to idols, that's the first thing that's thrown out there. Tolerance. You need to be tolerant. And then acceptance. Tolerance ain't enough. Live and let live, they don't want that. No, that ain't good enough. You've got to accept us. You have to say it's okay, that it's normal, that you approve of what we're doing, that you like what we're doing. That's what they want. Then you decide. So when you turn to idolatry, you're gonna first be tolerant. Then you're gonna accept it. And then you're gonna participate with the ungodliness and ungodly people. Not just sodomites, but every other ungodliness. You hear me now? I'm covering a lot of ground there, but I mean, I'm not just focusing in on the sodomites. They're just an example to use. It's that way with everything else. Every other ungodly thing. So if you turn from idols, you're going to start by being tolerant of people. Because you're going to get around them a little, and you're going to get to know them, and they're just people, and they got feelings too, and they can't help it, and somebody else taught them to do that, or there's some excuse you will accept for the reason why they're like they are, and so you'll tolerate them. and then you'll accept them, and then you'll, first thing you know, you'll be participating with them, and you have turned from God. And there's nowhere to go when you turn from God but to idolatry. There's no such thing as just not worshiping nothing. Everybody does. You're constituted that way because you're made in the image and likeness of God. He made us that way. Our heart will attach itself to something. Our mind will focus. We will, what do you call it, fixate on something. Everybody will. And so, in order to entice you to turn from God, this idol must appear to offer something better. Well, there's nothing better than God. So an idol is a lie. From the first appearance that it makes to your consciousness, it is a lie. Devil's trademark. The mark of sin, it always begins with a lie. And so anytime that you start entertaining ideas in your mind that there is a better way than this, to live, to serve God, you're being wooed by an idol and you're being deceived. Better mark it, better remember that. It's what's happening in our generation. It's all turning to idolatry. There's a better way to worship God with the devil's music and the devil's methods and the devil's appearance and everything? You're gonna worship God with that? It's more fun. It draws more people. Sinners can come in and feel, well, what's a sinner anyway? We're all sinners. Well, see what I mean? Sure, you can get a bunch of sinners together at a rock concert. It ain't church and it ain't God. God ain't got nothing to do with it. You're worshipping idols. Yes, you are. You ain't worshipping God with the devil's music. Immoral music. Violent music. Worldly music. You ain't worshipping God. You're worshipping idols. When they come into church and sing Johnny Cash and everything else, they're worshipping idols. They're not worshipping God Almighty. They have turned to idols. Mark it down. If you love God, the idol must steal your heart from God before you'll turn from him. Now, if you love God, the idol's got to steal your heart. He's got to steal your affection. He's got to work on you. He's got to present a lot of of offers to you to get you to reject God and turn to that? What's the first and great commandment? Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might That's the Old Testament and we can go to the New Testament in several places But in Mark chapter 12 verse 30 is one place Jesus said and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength This is the first commandment Jesus himself said that. Now, idolatry is just the opposite of this in any part or fashion. First and greatest commandment is that we love God above everything else. So, idolatry is when you don't love God above something else. Okay? Stay with me. So therefore, any other love in our life that comes before God would be an idol, wouldn't you say? If you're to love God supremely, first, above all things, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your heart, then anything that has your heart, anything that has your mind, anything that has your strength, would be an idol. You'd be turning to idol. Anything that displaces God and takes over. It could be people. It could be spouse. It could be children. It could be friends. Somebody else. It could be the country you live in, your people. You can put that above God and you're messed up. Anything that comes before God makes you an idolater. It could be things, money, possessions. It could be your work. It could even be your service to God. I have known people that I believe made an idol out of their work for the Lord. They put it above God. They did immoral things in order to promote the work. because they loved it so much. They were so proud of it. They had so much invested in it that they wouldn't let God be God anymore. They had the reins and they'd kill somebody just about over it. Now you won't do that if you love God supremely. You'll trust Him no matter what happens. Like David we've been talking about on Sunday mornings. It could be pride, it could be fame, popularity, acceptance by others, just wanting to be accepted by others so much that you'll compromise your love for God. Anything that our heart is set on that we would allow to direct us contrary to God and His will, you're turning to idols. This is pretty strong stuff if you're listening. I mean it's defining it real clearly. Don't turn to idols. It's a commandment of God. Don't turn that way. Don't turn toward them. Don't look at them because they are trying to entice you away from me. You okay with your wife flirting with other men? Are you okay with other men flirting with your wife? Are you ladies alright with other women flirting with your husband? Are you okay with that? If I just openly do it right in front of you. No, you're not okay with it, are you? God's not okay with us doing the same thing or with us allowing other things to do that to our heart, to our mind concerning God. God's not okay for us to listen to things and read things and associate with people who try to get us to doubt God, to turn away from God, to think less of God, to be suspicious of God or think that He cares for us less than they do. So anything that our heart is set on, that we would allow to direct us, instead of God. Do you realize what a ground that covers there? How much ground that covers? Your heart is where your affections lie. I mean, it's what you set your heart on. Well, if you lay up treasures in heaven, there will your heart be also. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. This would mean that objects of our desires could be our idols. Or even the desires themselves might be the idol. Desire. People have what they call a dream, and it's not a dream, it's a desire. There's something they want. Something they want to do, want to accomplish, want to have, and they call it a dream. But it's not a dream, it's a desire. And some people wrap their whole life around it. And they live their whole life around it. And it's at God's expense. I mean, it don't matter what God wants them to do, what God might put in their life to interfere with it, they shove it out of the way to keep pursuing their dream. Which is not a dream, it's a desire. Just something they've set their heart on, set their mind on. It's something they've decided they want and they're gonna do. And God is gonna be with me. No, God ain't gonna be with nothing, no nonsense like that. You're to focus on God. And God's to lead you, not you lead God into your dreams and desires and all that. That's not how this deal works. So anything that we give our strength to that causes our love for God to grow cold would be an idol. What about that? We're to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now how many give all their strength to God? How many use all of our strength for our own purposes, for our own gain? There's something to think about. Anything we allow our mind to become occupied with that steals time and thought away from God and His Word, be an idol. For love the Lord thy God with all thy mind. And that means he ought to have first place, shouldn't he? Well, we've got business of life and all that. I mean, it's not like we can't think about anything else. But that's not how most people do it. They put it all in. They throw it all in, whatever they do. They throw their mind all in to God, or they throw it all into the world. This is kind of how it works. If you got the habit of just thinking about the things of God and God while you're at church or just before you come to church or if you got to make a speech or if you got something, you know, got some responsibility, I don't think that's with all your mind. I don't believe you've given God all your mind. If you just give him a little, when you have to. If he just gets in your mind when it's time, At a set time, the rest of the time your mind is just spending 90 mile an hour on everything else. I don't believe he's got your mind. So that's idolatry. Just to be clear about it, that's idolatry. If you don't obey the first commandment, the first commandment is this. And God says, turn ye not to idols, which is the opposite of this. This is what the subject is here. The first commandment says love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now, idolatry is working on each one of them, trying to turn us, get some part of us away from God, so that He don't have all of us. You know why marriages crash? For the same reason. You get married and you promise one another everything, and then the first thing you know why it's just occasional passing in the house somewhere. Each one gets their own life. All the women got their careers now. So they've got their career, their job, their boss. They've got their people. He's got his people. They don't, they just meet once in a while. And then it's usually to, it ain't nothing but a bunch of frustration and aggravation and disappointment and don't get along. Why? Well, they don't get enough of one another. They've given themselves to other things. And the same thing with being a Christian. You can't have peace with God when you're giving your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength to other things. And leaving God forgotten in your life. Says not to do it. He don't want us to do that. He's a jealous God. He created us. He saves us for this, to be His, to belong to Him. He wants us to think about Him. He wants us to give our strength to Him. He wants us to give our soul to Him. He wants us to have our hearts set on Him. He wants to hear from us. And when you don't, it's because we got our heart, mind, soul, strength, we're using it elsewhere. Somebody else has got it. Something else has got it. When we allow our soul to become deaf and dumb toward God, but alive toward the things of the world, we're turning to idols. You ever been around people in church that you try to have a spiritual conversation with them and you don't go nowhere. I mean, there just ain't nothing to talk about because they don't have anything to put in. And they don't know what you're talking about, really, if you're talking about spiritual things. But if you get on ball teams, or hunting, or fishing, or something else, race cars, man, they come alive. They got plenty to say then. How can anybody think that's not idolatry? I don't understand. Well, I do understand. I think a lot of other people just don't understand. An idol is nothing. Now that's what the Bible says. An idol is nothing. Let me read you the verse here. Where's that here? I printed my message here and it's not It didn't come out right on the pages here. But here's the verse, 1 Corinthians 8, 4. An idol is nothing. So simply turning from God to nothing is also idolatry. Here's the verse. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other god but one. So an idol is what? It's nothing. It's not... an idol is something that doesn't exist. It's something that is in your imagination only. You need... that's so important. An idol is nothing. Nothing. Turn to idols. You turned to nothing. Thinking you had something. It's like a mirage in the desert. That's what it's like. The devil tempts you with idols that are not real things. It's just a imaginary thing that he's been able to trick your mind into inventing. So I'm just saying to you, an idol is nothing. So simply turning from God to nothing is also idolatry. I mean just forsaking the house of God and the people of God and the word of God and staying home. Just withdrawing from the whole deal. That's idolatry, turning to idols. You're turning to nothing. That's the same thing as everybody else does, because an idol is nothing. Y'all get me here? An idol's nothing. You're turning away from God. Every time anyone ever turns away from God, they're turning away to nothing. You get nothing in the end. The promise of pleasure, the promise of everything that it offers is all a lie. And you end up with nothing. God likens idolatry to adultery and makes the two words almost synonymous in the Bible. So anything at all that has any part in interrupting or distracting our love for God is idolatry. Man, it ain't just a thing or two, is it? It ain't just a strange oddball deal of worshiping little images and stuff and statues. It ain't like that at all. Idolatry is more than worshiping fish or statues or the Virgin Mary. It's more than that. Baptists do it all the time. It's a big deal. They do it all the time. They don't even realize that they're violating one of God's first commandments here. Anything that interrupts or distracts from our love for God is idolatry. I know I guess it's hard for people to understand nowadays when marriage is so messed up. You know, people of the same gender can be married. They're the ones that want to be married. Everybody else don't want to be married, obviously. People can be married and have two or three women and one man. I've seen one here a while back. This one woman had three or four men. They called it marriage. So I guess it's kind of, this is a strange thing for everybody to hear and understand that God wants you and he demands you completely. And anything else, he counts it as adultery. When he doesn't have all of your love first. Pretty easy for me to understand. I couldn't have a marriage where I was just one among many, where I was just part-time. Could you? No. Not unless you're a pervert. Those who do not believe in any God, they're idolaters too. They want to be called atheists. They don't believe there's a God. They're idolaters. Same deal. Without exception, they have their hearts set on something besides God. I guarantee you they do. Their heart, their soul, their mind, and their strength, they use it for something. That's what worship is. Worship is when he has it all. Heart, mind, soul, and strength. So somebody has it, something has it in all of their lives. You can't say, I don't believe in any God, so I'm exempt from this. No, you're an idolater, plain and simple. You worship nothing, that's what an idol is, nothing. Selfishness is idolatry because it's the supreme love of self above all others, including God. Anytime that anyone walks away from God they're turning to idols And it's not possible to turn from God without turning to something else It ain't possible. It's not possible. You don't do it. You don't turn away from God To nothing you turn away from God to something Anytime anyone turns from holiness, they're turning to idols. Because they have invented an image of God in their mind that is different than what the Bible tells us He is like. So when people turn from holiness, you can mark it down. They're turning to idols. God's holy. His moral law, we've been looking at it here in Leviticus for months now. It's plain, very simple, straight forward. He spells it out plainly. And when he says, thou shalt not, and you say, well, sometimes I believe it's okay. You're an idol worshiper, you ain't a God worshiper. You've made up your own God. You've rejected what God himself said about himself and made it up yourself. You're imagining things. And you're gonna find out when you face God that he is just like he said he was. And right is just like he said it was, wrong is just like he said it was. Doesn't matter what you think, what your opinions were, how much you were deceived by your own heart and others around you. Think about how foolish it is to turn to idols from the living God. Think how foolish it is to turn from the almighty God to powerless, impotent, non-existent fantasies. When Paul said the whole city's given up to idolatry, boy, it really moved him. It upset his spirit when he saw the whole city worshiping idols. Well, we got a generation like that now, see? They live in fantasy. They even try to, they're just like a bunch of children playing pretend. They're pretending. A boy pretends he's a girl, a girl pretends he's a boy. Everybody pretends they're in love and they're married. A lot of people are pretending they're a Christian too. Living ungodly, unholy, have no morals, or warped up morals, and they're pretending that they're a Christian. And in fact, they're idolaters. And where are idolaters going? I mean, in every list that the Bible gives of the people who are going to hell, idolaters are always there. With the whoremongers, and the adulterers, and the fornicators, and the thieves, and the liars, and the sodomites, they're all listed in those lists. In 1 Corinthians chapter six, starting in verse nine, and in the other place, Ephesians, they're all listed. Idolaters are not going to heaven. You ain't gonna worship idols all your life down here and be a spiritual adulterer and then go to heaven and be with God. No. Heaven's not a place for idolaters. Hell is. to give up a living relationship with a living God and trade it for an idol that can't see, hear, feel, answer, do anything for you. I mean, how foolish it is to turn from a God who answers your prayers, who hears you, who speaks to you, who meets your needs, who cares for you, who is active in your life. Give that up. for an idol that don't do none of that. An idolater never feels the thrill of God in his soul, the Spirit of God comforting him, strengthening him, guiding him, speaking to his soul through his word. An idolater never knows what that is. Why in the world? Why would anybody turn away from God to an idol? No matter how appealing it appeared. To turn from God that loves you and will make you holy and happy forever to something that will deceive you, debauch you, ruin you, leave you heartbroken and make you miserable forever. Turn from God who loves you and make you happy and holy to something that's going to ruin you. and defile you and corrupt you and make you miserable forever. That's a foolish move to do that. We're the work of God's hands. How absurd is it for us to turn from God who made us and worship things that we made with our own hands. Ain't that something? Think about that. We're made in the image and likeness of God to worship God. And instead of worshiping God, we turn from God to worship something we've made with our hands. Out of wood, out of stone, out of gold. To turn from God who made us and worship some image we've invented in our own mind, some idea, some fantasy in our mind, to put it above God. When it can't do anything for you, I want you to know something, fantasy doesn't do anything for you. It's not real. You can be silly and stupid and live in fantasy if you want to, but you're a foolish person. There's a much better way. Live in reality. Live in truth. The truth will make you free. Fantasy will put you in prison forever. It's a fool's game to even look at the idols of this world, let alone to set your heart on them. They're alive from the first time they entice your heart. I wish I could just burn that in to you kids, everybody here. We're all, we all face it. It's the devil's game. He's after us all the time. He's always trying to lay something out in front of us to entice us away from God in the most subtle ways. He don't just come right ball face to us like he did Eve. He's much more subtle about it. And he works slow and through little things, little things. It's the little foxes that spoil the vine. That's how he works with us. Little by little. Just work, just worm into your mind. Worm into your soul. Worm into your heart. Just a little bit. Just plant little things in there that grow. Remember, they're alive. Anything that tries to entice you away from God, away from holiness and righteousness, according to the Word of God, is a lie. And it's an idol that you're being tempted to turn to. They're the destruction of the soul, of the life. It'll destroy your life. That's bad, while you're here on earth. But it'll destroy your soul for eternity. You turn from God, you turn from God. You better not believe all this nonsense of just because you said a prayer 40 years ago, you're good. No problem. You can live how you want to. Going to heaven where you want to or not. Going to heaven kicking and screaming, but you're going. That is all a lie from hell. You got to be born again. When you're born again, I don't believe you're going to do this. A lot of people, you know, it's just like a fellow you was talking about the other day, been in church all, that's been in church all their life, maybe even preaching, pastored churches. I've known, I've known several pastors got saved after pastoring a church. Known a lot of pastors' wives, missionaries' wives, and people got saved after being involved in the ministry and all this for years. The destruction of the soul, idols. They mean to rob you of God and His blessings and His presence in your life. And if you know what that is, then you better be careful about turning to idols. Looking at what everybody else in the world is doing. You hear me? There's a thing there. Mighty important. Better be careful looking around at this world and what they got, and what they do, and how they do it, and what makes them happy, and what makes them healthy, and what makes them go, and what their life's all about. You better be very careful about turning to idols. You look at them, well, they're gonna talk you into it. If you give them an ear, give them a little bit of your mind. Give them a little bit, they'll have your heart right away. and you'll be gone. Amen? All right, let's stand. A lot of things there, you know, that's why David said about the law of God, he said he meditated on it day and night. All the day long. The evening and morning and at noon will I pray. Keep your mind set on God. That's the way to live. Turn to idols, you're a goner. You lose God's blessing in your life. You don't want that at all. There's no better way. It is the best way. It's the good way. It's the way where you know where you're headed and where you're going. I mean, you know what life's about. You got God's blessing on your life. Don't turn away from it. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. Please pray that you would please bless it to our hearts now. Pray, Lord, that we'd receive these things and remember them. Help me, Lord, also to remember these things. We live in a world that's full of idolatry. Churches, people who claim to be your people, Basically, idol-worshipping people. And Lord, it's easy to be deceived, especially for young ones, people that are weak, people that just will not apply themselves to the Word of God to understand and learn. They're easy pickings. They're the sheep that the wolves are watching and then are quick to go after. Lord, help us in these perilous times to cling close to Thee and keep our minds stayed on Thee. Help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.