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Okay, we'll turn again to Acts
chapter 19. We'll continue looking at this
passage. Acts 19, and I'll read verses
18 to the end of the chapter. It's a pretty good section, pretty
good-sized section, but hopefully we'll be able to bite into it
without too much trouble. Acts 19. Verse 18, And many that
believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. Many
of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together,
and burned them before all men. They counted the price of them,
and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the
word of God, and prevailed. After these things were ended,
Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia
and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there,
I must also see Rome. So he sent unto Macedonia two
of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus, but
he himself stayed in Asia for a season. At the same time, there
arose no small stir about the way. And the way, or that way,
is often used in the New Testament to describe Christianity. The
way, or that way. So, no small stir about that
way. For a certain man named Demetrius,
a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no
small gain unto the craftsman. whom he called together with
the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, you know that
by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that
not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul
hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that there
be no gods which are made with hands. So that not only is this
our craft is in danger, to be said it not, but also that temple
of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence
should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.
When they heard these things, they were full of wrath, and
cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! And the whole
city was filled with confusion. Having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, They rushed with one
accord into the theater. When Paul would have entered
in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not, and certain
of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring
him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. Some
therefore cried one thing, some another, for the assembly was
confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come
together. Federer Alexander out of the
multitude, the Jews putting him forward, and Alexander beckoned
with a hand, and would have made his defense unto the people.
But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about
the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! When the town clerk had appeased
the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, What man is there that
knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper
of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down
from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things
cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and do nothing
rashly. For ye have brought hither these
men which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers
of your goddess. Therefore, if Demetrius and the
craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man,
the law is open, and there are deputies. Let them plead one
another. But if ye inquire anything concerning
other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we
are in danger to be called into question for this day's uproar,
there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this
concourse. When they had thus spoken, he
dismissed the assembly. Well, as we entered into chapter
19, we saw that Paul had left Apollos to minister in Corinth
while he went to preach the word of God in Ephesus. As soon as
he came into the city, right away, he began to find men who
had at least a mind towards Christ, but yet did not know him. They
had been baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist, which was
a baptism of repentance, a baptism that looked forward to the coming
of the Messiah. But they did not yet know the
Messiah in a saving way, for they had not yet been baptized
with a baptism that looks back to his atoning sacrifice. And so Paul preached the gospel
to them, and having received the gospel, he baptized them,
and the number of them were twelve. Of course, these twelve were
not to be the only ones that believed in Ephesus. Eventually,
multitudes would believe. Well, after ministering to these
twelve, Paul continues preaching the word of God, and according
to verse 8, he went into the synagogue, which was his pattern. It's the way he conducted himself.
Verse 8 says, he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for
the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning
the kingdom. But the word was not well received.
So Paul moved on, and he went into the school of one named
Tyrannus, and he preached there. for a season of two years. Multitudes
were hearing. In fact, as they would hear the
Word of God and receive the Gospel, they would then go out and preach
the Gospel of Christ so that the Word of God prevailed. It
mightily began to fill the land. In fact, verse 10 says, "...discontinued
by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in
Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks,
And so we saw that the Word of God mightily prevailed. It went forth with power, which
it always does. It always goes forth victoriously. God's Word always accomplishes
its purpose. It never fails. And so the Word
of God prevailed, as the way the Scripture puts it, and multitudes
believed. Well, as we come to the second
half of the chapter, I'm including verses 18 and 19, but continuing
on, It seems that there was an uproar
that took place within the city of Ephesus. A terrible uproar
that was centered around the preaching of the gospel because
of verse 23, that way that was being proclaimed. And multitudes
were coming to faith in Christ. And it was having an extreme
effect upon all of the city of Ephesus. And so the powerful
effect of the gospel was turning the city upside down. And in
essence, a riot occurred. And so this second half of chapter
19 is recording this riot, this effect the gospel had upon the
entire city of Ephesus. Quite an amazing thing. Remember,
Ephesus is a godless city, full of idolatry, great heathen religions,
a terrible place of debauchery and sinfulness, yet the gospel
comes into this town with power and multitudes are being saved.
You cannot credit this to anything else but the mighty power of
God, which really makes us, I mean, we have the same gospel, the
same word of God, and our city is no more wicked than Ephesus
was or Corinth was. Yet multitudes were saved there,
and if we're faithful to the word of God, we can surely hope
that God will save multitudes in our city as well, if we are
faithful and bring the gospel to the lost. Well, one of the
things that we see in the second half of this chapter is the profound
change that the gospel has upon the person that believes. It
crushes idolatry. It always does. It's always the
same. The gospel crushes idolatry. In other words, when a person
comes to saving faith, his whole life is turned upside down, and
he throws his idols away every time. So this account here is
merely testimony to that fact that the believer throws his
idols away. So the first thing I want us
to see here is that the idolatry in the lives of the Ephesians
is the same idolatry in the lives of all lost men. It's no different. It is the same as in the lives
of all lost men. They worship self-made gods instead
of the one true God. This is what all lost people
do. They worship gods fashioned in the imagination, fashioned
with their hands, things that keep them from worshiping the
one true God. This is consistent with all lost
people, and consistent with Romans 1. In verses 21 through 23 of
Romans 1, basically tells us that all men have an inner understanding
of God, but instead of worshiping the one true God, they worship
God's made in the imagination. So Romans 1 reads, because that
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
they thankful. but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image, made like unto a corruptible man, and to
birds, and forfeited beasts, and creeping things." And so,
in essence, what Romans 1 is telling us is The one true God
who is glorious to behold, who should be sufficient to captivate
the hearts of all men, because of our corruption, instead of
seizing and worshiping and basking in the glory of this one true
God, we basically say, no. I will not have him. I will worship
something that is satisfying to my flesh. I will deny the
one true God, and I will worship an idol that I will invent with
my mind." So Romans 1.25 continues, "...who changed the truth of
God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." So we all set
these idols up. The idols take many forms. There may be someone here that
says, I've never worshipped an idol. Because we figure in our
minds that an idol has to be a little statue of Buddha or
some other little figurine that we set up and we begin to bow
before the figurine. But these idols being mentioned
here in Romans chapter 1, Go far beyond that. It's anything
of the created world that we set up as that which will draw
our hearts and affections more than God. And this can be anything. All of the material things we
have, all of the jewels that we have, the trinkets, the electronic
goods, the material things we have. That's our God of this
age. And these things are just as
real of God's as the shrine of Diana was. Well, Ephesus was
the center of the cult of Diana, also known as Artemis. Artemis
was the goddess of fertility. In fact, the idols that have
been found today, which they have found many of these surviving
idols, they were these strange multi-breasted figures because
Diana was the goddess of fertility so they would set these idols
up and worship them in essence worshipping this fertility goddess
there were shrines dedicated to her everywhere and people
all over the city worshipped her it was kind of a universal
religion in Ephesus notice the scripture tells us that In verse
35, when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of
Ephesus, what man is he that knoweth not how the city of the
Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana? So they
were dedicated to worshipping this idol and they were fervent
in her worship. Notice in verse 27 how fervent
they were, how upset they were when anyone would dare blaspheme
the great goddess Diana. Verse 27 says, so that not only
is this our craft in danger, to be said it not, but also the
temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence
should be destroyed. whom all Asia and the world worshipped. And when they heard these things,
they were full of wrath. And they cried out, saying, Great
is Diana of the Ephesians. And so, with great fervor, they're
worshipping this goddess. Notice again in verse 34, where
we read, "...and when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one
voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana
of the Ephesians!" Can you imagine? Two hours! saying the same thing. Two hours. Great is the goddess Diana. Great is... and you can imagine,
you know, this multitude in unison. Great is the goddess Diana. Great is... and in almost a trance,
probably swaying back and forth. Great is the goddess Diana. And this went on over and over
and over. For two hours this went on. They were fervent in their religion. And by the way, the world is
full of religion today, and it is all idolatry. I mean, we set up a lot of different
things in worship. It's our materialism that is
an idol. But all of the false religions
of this world, they are all idols. It's nothing more than verse
25 of Romans, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worship
and serve the creature more than the Creator. The creature, in
other words, something created. And it can either be something
that God has created, something of the created order, or something
we create. That's what all religion is.
It is something we create in our imagination. And are not
people everywhere fervent in their religion? You think of
the Hindus diligently trying to discover the higher self and
fervent in it. Or the Buddhists seeking to find
true reality. You have Buddhist monks and you
can see them in magazines, sometimes on TV. They're usually dressed
in orange robes, many times shaved heads, bare feet, or sandals. fervent in their religion. I'm talking about fervent in
their religion. Muslims giving themselves to
serving Allah. And they chant, there is no God
but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger. That's their chant.
There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger. And
they chant this over and over. Just like Diana is the goddess. She's great. We will worship
her. Still people are fervent in their
religion. In fact, the Muslims are willing
to kill those that disagree, which in essence is what's going
on here. I mean, Demetrius is incensed about this way, about
Paul who is preaching the gospel, about Paul who is converting
multitudes and destroying their craft, their trade, and bringing
a reproach to this great goddess Diana. They're ready to kill. I mean, verse 29, the whole city
is filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one
accord into the theater. Just like what the Muslim religion
will do today. They literally will kill those
who are not followers of that way. They do, and all over the
world there are states that the Muslim religion is the official
religion. You cannot, they will not tolerate
other religions in this setting. Do we not see the same thing?
There are scores of religions, people are fervent in their religion,
but yet their religion is nothing more than an idol. It is all
idolatry. And it's not how fervent you
are, and it's not how sincere you are in your religion. It's
the truth that counts. And so these Diana worshippers,
they are fervent. And let me add this. It's also
not the numbers of followers that make a religion true. Because
there are scores. In fact, hundreds of thousands,
in fact, hundreds of millions, in fact, billions of people that
follow false religions. It is not the numbers that count.
There are nations that the only religion practiced is the Muslim
faith. There are countries where Hinduism
is the chief religion. There are countries where Buddhism
is the chief religion. There are countries where Catholicism
is the chief religion. But it's not just simply those
who have the greatest numbers. That is not what constitutes
a true religion. Again, remember, all the people
in Ephesus, They're all worshippers of Diana. In fact, that's what
the Talon Clerk uses to finally settle them down. Don't you understand? Everyone in Ephesus follows Diana. Don't worry about these people.
We are all worshippers of Diana. Don't worry about it. Well, the
followers of Christ have often been few in number. Many times
in religion, few in number. In fact, Even in our generation,
now we have larger churches than any time in the history of Christianity. In most of Christianity, churches
were relatively small, 100 people, 200 would be a huge church. Prior
to the latter part of the 20th century, a thousand person church
would be a mega church. You didn't have very many churches
that have a thousand people. Now it's not uncommon to have
a church with 10,000 people. There are churches that boast
20,000 people. You would say that Christianity
has gone through a marvelous revival. But why is it then that
those that profess true Christianity are still referred to as fanatics,
even in these 20,000 member churches? Because true Christianity is
often small in number. It's always been that way. Small
in number, but always prevailing. It will always prevail. True
Christianity will always prevail. In every generation, it will
always prevail. And there are generations that
have multitudes of Christians, and other generations that have
small in number. will always prevail. And the
false religions, every one of them, will ultimately be crushed. Every one of them. Buddhism will
someday cease to be. Hinduism will someday cease to
be. The Islamic faith will someday
cease to be. This is the truth. All of these
false religions will someday cease to exist. How many people
worship Diana today? Zero. We don't know of any people
in the world today that worship the great goddess Diana. Though
this entire city worship the great goddess Diana. But there's
no one today that worships the great goddess Diana. All of the
false religions today will someday end, and when I say false religion,
I'm talking about every religion save Christianity, save the way,
the true faith. All of the other religions will
pass away, but we have the glorious words of Christ, Luke 21, 33,
heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words, will not pass away. John 14, 6, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Christianity is a narrow, tight,
squeeze-in way. And it always has been. But every
other way will lead to destruction. Christianity is the one true
way of life. I realize in our culture of acceptance,
of diversity, of political correctness, we don't like to hear the fact
that our way is the only way. But our way is the only way. It is the only way of life. I
realize it's very unpopular to say that Islamic people will
go to hell. Jewish people, you never, I mean,
you wouldn't want to get on Larry King and say that, that Jewish
people will go to hell. But they will. There is one way
of salvation. It's through Jesus Christ and
Him alone. There is no other way. It's a narrow way. We preach
a narrow gospel. It's a narrow way. but it's the
only way to life and everything outside of that is nothing more
than an idol and it will perish every time. So, these false idols,
this goddess Diana, it will cease to be. But as I said a moment
ago, there are many other idols other than these religious idols. Now, I suppose you could say
they're all religious idols because they all capture our hearts.
and our affections, but the main issue with Ephesus here, though
they are giving the outward motions of Diana being the great goddess,
that's really not what created the riot. You know what created
the riot. The riot was basically created
by verse 24, a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which
made silver shrines for Diana, who brought no small gain unto
the craftsmen. That's the issue. The issue was,
all these people are coming to faith in Christ, they no longer
want these shrines of Diana, these things that the silversmiths
created, they no longer are interested in these things, and so Demetrius
and his craftsmen are losing money, big time. And so he's
furious of this. So he says in verse 27, so that
not only is our craft in danger, to be said it not, then he says,
well yeah, but we're concerned about the great goddess Diana
too. But his biggest problem is he's
losing his income. That's what he's upset about.
There was a guild of silversmiths in Ephesus and they find their
customer base shrinking and so they're furious and they want
something done about it. People always scream the loudest
when you begin to affect their idols. One thing about preaching,
preaching often steps on idols. I remember our former pastor
would sometimes say that preaching is like sitting in a rocking
chair in a room full of long-tailed cats rocking back and forth and
every now and then you rock on a cat's tail and the cat screams
or he says preaching is like being blindfolded and throwing
rocks into a pack of dogs and every now and then a rock finds
its way home and the dog yelps you're not intentionally throwing
a rock at the dog you're blindfolded but every now and then You hit,
and they yelp. No one likes to have their idols
trampled upon. But in our generation, there
are such idols. In every generation, there are
such idols. People are not often willing
to give up their idols and fall completely and fully before God
and worship Him completely. But that is the essence of Christianity. So that brings us to my second
point. Secondly I want to point to the effect of the gospel upon
idolatry. Now the first point again was
that The idolatry is always the same. Idolatry is nothing more
than that which takes us away from the one true God. And all
lost people have their idols. It can be idols of religion,
or it can simply be the idols of their lust, the idols of the
things that they long for and desire. But all men have idols,
and so the idols of the Ephesians and the idols that people have
today, they're one and the same. They're no different. But second
of all, I want to point you to the effect that the gospel has
upon idolatry then and now. Human nature hasn't changed.
It's the same. We haven't changed. We could
be transported back into the city of Ephesus and human beings
are absolutely the same then and now. The gospel always brings
a person to worship the one true God. The problem in Ephesus is
that these multitudes of Christians are being converted and they
are stopping their worship of Diana. And apparently it's a
sizable number. I mean, have this simply been
a small sect that was meeting privately in homes and we're
going to go off over here and worship and let us keep to ourselves
wouldn't have been an issue. But Christianity is not like
that. These men and women, children, were going out and it affected
their life. It affected everything they did.
And one of the things it did was completely transform them
from those who would have any desire for this great goddess
Diana. And so, it was completely turning
the city upside down. Which again, it's consistent
with genuine Christianity. Genuine Christianity always gives
up idols. 1 Thessalonians 1 verses 8 and
9, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in
Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place your faith
to God's word is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak
anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from Idols. You gave up your idolatry. And
I could say the same thing about each one of you. I could go naming
you one by one. And if you have received Christ,
and if He has now become precious in your sight, we could go and
say, these are the idols you've given up. And go to the next
person and say, well, what have you given up? Well, this is what
I used to love, and it was my life, but now it's Christ. And He is glorious to me, and
the idols no longer have the same attraction to me that they
once had. Notice in verses 18 and 19, and
we covered these briefly last time, but look at verses 18 and
19. They parted with their former
way of worship, and they parted with everything that they found
displeasing to God. They were convicted of sin, and
they confessed it. Look at verse 18. And many that
believed came and confessed. They showed their deeds, and
nothing was too precious for them to part with. I did some
reading on this verse 20. And it says, Many of them also,
which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned
them before all men. They counted the price of them
and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. I stated last time we
don't know for certain what these pieces of silver were. How valuable
they were. But you have to assume that it
was probably pretty valuable because otherwise Luke would
not seem need to post it if it was just a small amount. Well
I read in one place Now these 50,000 pieces of silver were
probably drachmas, which is the way, by the way, the NIV translates
it, drachmas. Now a drachma is one day's wage,
which by the way, the pieces of silver that Judas took for
betraying Christ, these 30 pieces of silver, these were probably
also drachmas. a drachma being a day's wage,
which, by the way, was the cost of a slave back then. The price
of a slave was normally 30 drachmas, which means Jesus was betrayed
for the price of a slave. But if these are drachmas here,
and if a drachma is a day's wage, and if a day's wage is about,
well, in our generation, What would you say, $100 to $200?
If it's $100, that would be $500 a week. So it would be $26,000 a year.
It would be $100 a day. $26,000 a year. If you make $52,000 a year, then
you're making $200 a day. And you can carry the math from
there. Well, $100 to $200 then would make these books have been
worth $5 to $10 million. is how much they burnt in these
fires. Five to ten million dollars worth
of books. Now they were precious books.
But these men said nothing is too precious to part with for
the sake of Christ. What are you willing to part
with for the sake of Christ? Obviously They parted with a
lot. Because you have to figure that
the whole city of Ephesus was probably just a matter of maybe
a couple hundred thousand people. And you're only talking about
a small number that burnt the books. We're talking about each
one individually gave up a fortune for Christ. What are you willing
to give up for the sake of Christ? Well, Jesus requires that we
be willing to give up everything. Everything. Luke 14, 33, So likewise,
whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be
my disciples. And if you read the Gospels,
this just goes on over and over and over and over. A scribe comes
running to Jesus saying, Master, I will follow you whithersoever
you go. Jesus says, okay. Foxes have
dens and the son of man hath not wear'd a man's head. You
don't expect a life, I mean, you follow me and you have nothing.
You just follow me. Another man comes up and says,
but master, I'll follow you, but let me first go bury my father. Jesus says, let the dead bury
the dead. You follow me. In other words,
follow me chiefly alone. And what actually was probably
going on in that passage is the person's father was not even
dead yet. I mean, in other words, he's saying, you know, let me
tend to my father until my father dies. Let me bury my father and
then I'll go and follow you. Jesus had already made it clear.
If any man loves father, mother, brother, sister, you know, if
he loves anything more than me, it's not worthy of me. These
are hard sayings. Jesus says, if any man will come
after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Which, taking up your cross is
crucifixion, which means you die. I mean, by taking up your
cross, he's not talking about, you know, mere inconveniences
each day. You know, it would be an inconvenience
to take up your cross and drag it through the street each day.
It's just an inconvenience. It's not what he's saying. to
take up your cross and follow Him, He took up His cross and
went and died. So it's talking about self-denial. It's talking about dying to Christ. What kind of treasures do you
have that you must hang on to? Or let me ask this, seeing how
almost everyone professes Christianity in our nation, almost everyone,
what kind of What kind of country would it be if everyone who professed
Christ actually demonstrated genuine Christianity? With genuine
Christianity always. This isn't some strange phenomenon
taking place here. This is just Christianity. These people are saying, we've
got all these books, all these curious arts, all these incantations. We need to get rid of these things.
We'll burn them. And then the people who, you
know, the entire city of Ephesus, they're worshippers of Diana
and they're saying, great is the goddess Diana. But then God
saves them and they begin, you know, we don't want these shrines
anymore. Get rid of these shrines. These
are displeasing to God. We will serve the living God.
What are you willing to forsake? for the cause of Christ. Or I
can put it in a different way. Sometimes preaching, you can
give illustrations, sometimes you have to get very blunt with
illustrations for them to really sink home. But you look even
in our congregation tonight, and on this slide over here,
I don't have to be a mathematician, but I can go, five! That's five
people. And I can look over here and
very quickly, 4, 8, 11! 5 plus 11 is 16! And we have 40 members. So that tells us that we've got
a lot of people missing tonight. And actually, we have 40 members,
but I counted five over here, but only Three of them are members. So on a given Sunday, we run
easily 60 in worship. So it tells us we have a lot
missing tonight. Now, our very prayer time exposed
that we've got some out sick. And that's always understandable. And there may be others that
are out for other reasons. But I do know that there are
some that could have been here tonight but they chose not to. Not because they were providentially
hindered, but they chose not to. They made a choice not to. And we always, the nature of
human nature, we always choose that which is most pleasurable
to us. We always do. I mean, if you
have a choice of going and getting a root canal or going and getting
a nice meal at a restaurant, Which one are you going to choose?
I don't know of one of us that would choose the root canal over
the nice restaurant. We always choose that which is
more pleasurable. So ultimately, and you hear me
say many, many times, we always do what we want to do. If you
want to do it, you'll find a way to do it. That's always the case.
We do what we want to do. So then I ask the question again. Why do you give up for Christ?
And the point is this. When you say give up, a lot of
times we're thinking, you know, sacrifice. You have to give something
up. But that's not the case with
Christianity. These men that threw their books in the fire,
I can assure you they were not saying, Oh, I love my books. I'm going to
miss my books so much. I can, and I'm going to read
in the white sections a little bit, but I can almost picture,
you know, they've got this bonfire going, and I can imagine these
people rejoicing, I mean, singing, you know, shouting as they tossed
their book into the fire, and the embers would rise up, and
shouting gloriously, you know, Praise be unto God! Swing another
book! Hallelujah! Burn another book! They were not sacrificing anything,
they had simply found a new God, the one true God, and He is worthy. These people that had paid a
lot of money for these Diana shrines, these silver shrines
that the silversmiths had made a lot of money on, and they probably
spent a lot of money for these statues and shrines, they weren't
saying, oh man, I spent $400 on this thing. I really hate
to get rid of it. It sat on the mantel. It's been
there. My kids were in the house when
we had it. I just hate to get rid of it. It has such sentimental value
and great as the goddess Diana. They didn't do that at all. They
threw these things away. We want nothing to do with it.
because it's displeasing to God. Well, idolatry is a sin that's
very subtle. And it's probably the sin that
we're most likely to excuse ourselves of, because it can come in so
many different ways. I mean, for one, the idol may
be gossip. And no one would ever say, it's
an idol. You wouldn't ever do that. You
just dismiss it. Another, it may be food, it may
be gluttony. But no one would ever say, I'm an idolater because
I just tend to give myself to gluttony. We would never do that.
For someone else, it may be a material lust. You know, I just have to
have a new car every couple of years. But they would never call
themselves idolaters. And we could go on and on and
on. All of these things that are precious to us, and often
take our eyes off of Christ. Why idolatry is a sin that we
must, we must deal with because the Bible tells us it is absolutely
inconsistent with Christianity. In fact, every time idolatry
is mentioned It's mentioned in the context that this isn't a
believer. In fact, believers, such as in
Thessalonica, such as we're seeing here, believers throw the idols
away and they do it gladly. Unbelievers keep their idols
and perish in their sin. Let me give you just a few verses.
Galatians 5, 19 and 20. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, These are the things that are consistent
with the works of the flesh, and this is consistent with those
who are lost. In contrast with the fruit of
the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, neatness, temperance, these are the works of the flesh.
Adultery. Fornication. Of course, we're
going, I wouldn't commit adultery. No, not fornication. Uncleanness. Lasciviousness. Idolatry. And then it continues, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, simulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Idolatrous. It goes on, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revelings of such a like, of which I tell
you before, as I have told you in times past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That should
cause us to tremble. Because we are so prone to idolatry. It's really something we ought
to deal with more often than we do. Because it is so subtle
and so dangerous. Ephesians 5.5, For this we know,
that no whoremonger, or unclean person, or covetous man, who
is an idolater. You hear what he's saying? He
says covetousness is idolatry. Covetousness is not being satisfied
with that which God has graciously given you. And if you are in
this condition, you're an idolater. And he says, nor covetous man
who is an idolater have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
of God. It should cause us to tremble. 1st Corinthians 6, 9. If he just said it once, it'd
be one thing. But God says this over and over
and over. 1st Corinthians 6, 9. Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind." Then
Revelation 21.8, But the fearful, and the unbelieving, the abominable,
and the murderers, the whoremongers, and the sorcerers, the idolaters,
and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. We're so
prone to idolatry, to the things of this earth, the things that
take our eyes off of Christ. And the point is, if Christ is
our jewel, I'm talking about our crown, our glory, our chief
desire, then it's really not like you haven't given up anything. You really found the true glory. and everything else pales. We
sing the song, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his
beautiful face, and the things of earth shall grow strangely
dim in the light of his glory and grace. Had you not experienced
that, the things of this earth, they grow more and more and more
dim. Things that once sparkled in
your eye, caught your eye every time, seized your affections,
Now they have grown so dim, and they're growing dim, as the glory
of Christ becomes more and more bright. And so for these people,
for them to throw their books in the fire, these books were
once so valuable to them, and now they're nothing more than
rubbish. It meant no more for them to
throw these books in the fire than it would be for you to cast
away any refuse. You know, I put bags of garbage
in my can and take them out to the curb and, you know, they
get picked up during the day and I never think about it again.
I never say, boy, those three white bags of trash, they were
so special to me and I really wish I had those bags of trash.
I'm going to drive to the dump and see if I can find, pick out
my bags of trash. I don't even think about them.
And that's really the way it should be. Once we see Christ
and He is so glorious, then everything else is just rubbish. And it
really doesn't mean anything to us. Well, God will not allow
rivals. We'll see this again in a few
weeks as we look at the first commandment. But He will not
allow rivals. He demands that we love Him with
our entire being. Matthew 22, repeating from Deuteronomy,
He says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment, and the second is like it. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. Where is your heart? What has
captivated your affections? What is it that you love more
than anything else? Christianity means dying to self. Which means mortifying self. Now the work of mortification
can be difficult. I don't mean to paint this as
too easy. Like, you know, they're throwing the books away and they're
roaring and that. Because there are parts of us
that can become quite difficult. to throw away. Colossians 3.5,
mortified therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, covetousness,
which is idolatry. So Paul talking to believers
here, he says you put these things to death. They're poison. They
will corrupt you. You put them to death. You mortify
these things. And the point is, it is glorious
to do for the cause of Christ. And that's exactly what they
did. They understood just how dangerous these books were. Oh,
they could have kept them on their shelf. We're not interested
in incantations anymore. We'll just put it on the shelf.
It's okay. But sin is deceptive. You put
those books on the shelf and every day you kind of glance
over at them. You see the book that once had
great attraction in your life, but you're okay. You're strong.
I'm strong. I'm just going to leave it on
the shelf. It's okay. But you begin to glance over
it again and then you glance over at it again. Then maybe
you begin to go over it and just thumb through it again. You're
strong after all. You can handle it. You begin
to flip the pages, and soon you begin chanting the incantations
again. It begins to capture your affections
again, the nature of it. So for the Christian, we don't
give it a chance. Anything in you, you know your
weaknesses, anything, you don't give it an inch. You don't allow
these things in your home. You do not allow these things
in your life, because every little thing, I was sharing with someone
the other day. My mom, when I was in high school,
she used to buy Avon. And back then you could buy these
little cars and they were filled with aftershave. Maybe you've
seen them. You can still see the cars at garage sales sometimes.
And these cars were supposedly collector's items. I kept them
for years and years. I don't think Pat finally threw
them in the garbage. But they were filled with aftershave.
wild country aftershave. I don't know if you've ever smelled
wild country aftershave. Smells exactly like high karate. You ever smell high karate aftershave?
Cheap aftershave, but I wore it as a teenager. And of course,
I was a lost teenager, doing all kinds of things that lost
people do that they shouldn't do. Well, several years ago,
I mean, I quit using wild country soon after we got married 30
years ago. But not too long ago, Pat got
some samples of Avon, including aftershave and perfume, and I
went, ah, wild country. I peeled open the pack and pulled
out the little moist towelette and went, And immediately, my
mind just took me back to my teenage years, the things I was
doing back then and on and on. It's amazing how easily we are
taken back to former ways of life. And if something as simple
as a smell can do it, how much more can a song that you listen
to, something used to actually do, that would take you back
We need to flee every appearance of evil. We need to mortify those
things that might even possibly lead us to sin. We must throw
ourselves to that which is holy and pure and flee from that which
is evil. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7-1,
having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, Let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Cleanse ourselves. It's almost
like you have an exorcism of everything around you. In other
words, you're cleansing yourself of everything that's impure. Anything that might possibly
lead you to sin. And we continue doing that our
whole life. You see, Christianity is not a religion. Christianity
is a complete dying to self. And as we die to self and we
see Christ all the more glorious, then we are more than willing
to throw away the things that might hinder our walk with Him.
That's the reason I don't mean to pick on people, especially
when they're not here. I mean, you know, I'm talking
about the wrong people. But the point is, If we understand
Christ is glorious, and He is, and we understand the things
that will draw us to Him, it's not the television set on Wednesday
night. It's joining with the brethren
to pray. It's coming and hearing His Word
taught and proclaimed. These are the things that draw
us nearer to Him. And if we have a passion, oh
God, I want to know You more. I want to have You more in my
life. then our desire should be to
seize those things that will advance this and flee from those
things that will hinder. So we have to continue to press
upon each other because we're all... I'm not just picking on
people that aren't here. I'm warning everyone and encouraging
you. Help one another. Pray for one
another. Encourage one another. Admonish
one another. Because we are so prone. Our
flesh is so strong. If you don't think the flesh
is strong, put a bowl of M&M's out on the counter. At least
it is for me. I've got to take one. As soon
as I take one, I've got to have another. It's kind of like the
old Lay's potato chip commercial. Bet you can't eat one. The flesh
is so powerful. You've got to have it. We have
to be careful. to throw away everything that
will lead us from Christ and seize those things that will
draw us nearer to Him. And sometimes, even when we don't
feel like it because our flesh is so strong, we still know in
our mind, this is what I must do to grow nearer to Christ.
I will do this because I desire Him. This is the nature of the
Christian life. Pressing on, striving for His
glory, and living in a way that would please Him in everything.
Throwing away our idols, and looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
God, I pray that you would press this upon our hearts. Press it
upon my heart, Father. God, I'm prone to idolatry. My
eyes often wander to those things that are not pleasing to You. Cleanse us, Father. Pull these things from our grasp. Take them from us. Even when
our flesh kicks and screams, strip it from us, Father, that
we might be drawn nearer to You. help us in our work of mortification
as we continue to die more and more to self, to grow closer
and closer to you. As John the Baptist professed,
I must decrease and you must increase. Father, may this be
characteristic of our life, growing nearer and nearer to you, and
dying more and more to self. Help us, O God. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.
Idolatry
Series Acts
| Sermon ID | 117082046521 |
| Duration | 57:47 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 18 |
| Language | English |
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