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.