If you would like to follow along as I read the scripture reading and really the sermon text is 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5. 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 beginning in verse 1. Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camp beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped in Aphek. The Philistines arranged themselves to meet Israel. Then the battle spread, and Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who struck down about 4,000 men on the battlefield. Then the people came into the camp, and the elders of Israel said, why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh of Hosn, who sits above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And it happened that as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth was thrown into confusion. Then the Philistines heard the noise of the shout and said, what is the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean? Then they knew that the Ark of Yahweh had come into the camp, and the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and become men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews. as they've been slaves to you, therefore become men and fight. So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent, and the slaughter was very great for their fellow of Israel, 30,000 foot soldiers. And the Ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his robes torn and dust on his head. And he came, and behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out. Then Eli heard the noise of the outcry, and he said, what is the noise of this commotion mean? So the man came hurriedly and told Eli. Now, Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes had set so that he could not see. And the man said to Eli, I'm the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I fled from the battle line today. And he said, how did things go, my son? Then the one who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. And your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the Ark of God has been taken." And it happened that when he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backwards beside the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel 40 years. Now his daughter-in-law, Phineas' wife, was with child and about to give birth. And she heard the report that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died. So she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women who stood by her said to her, do not be afraid, for you've given birth to a son. But she did not answer or pay attention And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, the glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken. Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Then the Ashenites arose early the next morning, and behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of Yahweh. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. But they arose early the next morning, and behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of Yahweh, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor all who entered Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod to this day. Now the hand of Yahweh is glorious against the Ashtonites, and he made them desolate and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. Thus the men of Ashdod saw that it was so and said, the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our God. So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, what shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel? And they said, let the Ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath. And they brought the Ark of the God of Israel around. Now it happened, after they brought it around, that the hand of Yahweh was against the city with very great confusion. And he struck the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. And as the Ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, they brought the Ark of the God of Israel around to us to put us and our people to death. They sent, therefore, and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place so that it will not put us and our people to death. For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city. The hand of God was very glorious there. Now the men who did not die were struck with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven. And there we have this account of the sin of Israel and God's judgment upon them and upon the Philistines. And that is historical truth. And it is the word of God. Well, as we come then to the ministry of God's word, let's ask his blessing upon us as we consider this very important subject, Dagon and the God of Self. Father, we pray that you would come now and be among us, enable us to examine ourselves in light of the truth of your word, to grow stronger and wiser in our faith, that we might trust in you as we battle the world, the flesh, and the devil in the spiritual darkness of this world. We pray, Father, that you would act and work mightily in us. that we might become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ as the people of your church for your glory and honor, and we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Dagon and the God of self, that's our subject this morning, and I intend this to be, well, as always, where God's word needs to convict us where we need to be convicted, then he would enable us to have his word do that. And we examine ourselves, but also that we would be encouraged by these truths as well. We know from scripture that man in his sin, fallen man, is what the reformers had called an idle factory. He is an idol factory. Paul states it, Romans 1, professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. And there it is. You see, that's what man does. He inevitably makes his idols. I've been here as your pastor for 32 years now, and in this community for 32 years. I've been a pastor for 42 years. I think that I can accurately say that there's one particular sin that is characteristic of this community. It's certainly characteristic of the world, but I think that There is an aspect, and I think that we see it in various places in scripture, the book of Daniel, for example, that certain territories, communities, cities, nations in this world are characterized by certain aspects, a little bit different aspects of Satan's attacks. And they're all characterized by a certain spirit, you might say. And I think a very real spirit that hangs over a community. And I think that our community is certainly then no exception here. This particular mentality here is a strong fortress that's raised up against the knowledge of God. It is an idol, and it is what I'm going to call the idol of self, the idol of self. It characterizes this community, and it takes people down Broadway, unthinking people, here they go, down Broadway, and it takes them to hell. It's self, it's a terrible, terrible thing, this self, and we wanna look at that more carefully than this morning. Many, many people have made, we've seen them, we've seen that happen in this church over and over again. People, they've made shipwreck of their faith, trading off the treasure of Christ to worship an idol, and specifically it's been the idol of self. Now, I want you to be, listening as I talk, but I also want you to be thinking, doing double duty here a little bit. Because later on, toward the end of our time here, I'm going to ask you a question. And the question is, what are some ways in which young people and adults today are being trained to exalt self? What are some typical ways in which young people and adults today are being taught to and trained to, you know, life is about self, the exaltation of self. It's an idol. And like all idolaters, worshipers of this idol, the idol of self, they construct an image of their God. And the image always has their face. their likeness then upon it. And they bow down to it. They feed it. They carry it about with them. When it's threatened, they defend it. And they demand that everybody else bow down to their idol and worship it as well. Psalm 115 speaks to this fallacy of idolatry. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they don't speak. They have eyes, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear. They have noses, but they do not smell. As for their hands, they don't feel. As for their feet, they don't walk. They don't make a sound with their throat. Here's the punchline. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them. And so I want to show you this morning how rampant this form of idolatry, the worship of self, is around us. And to warn us all, those who make them, those who worship an idol, will become like the idol, deaf, blind, and dead. Well, think about this idol Dagon. the God of the Philistines. The Israelites, as we've just read, had been defeated in battle by the Philistines. And so they come up with a plan. They don't follow Proverbs 3, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, right? But they're leaning on their own understanding. They're going to come up with a plan. And what they decided was, you know, The Ark of the Lord is like a talisman. It's like a magical object. And if we will take it with us into battle, it will be among us, and it will deliver. You see the distortion of the character of God in all of this. They had come that far in their distortion of true true religion and the true character, then, of God. And so they do it. They go to the center of worship at that time, Shiloh. They get the ark, and they bring it. And there's this literally earth-shaking roar as the crowds just exclaim with joy and with power, it is among us now. It will save. It isn't the Lord saves. They don't consult him. You know, the reason they don't go back and say, why have we been defeated in battle? Why did this happen? Well, if you just back up a few chapters, you'll start to see why. They had corrupted the covenant, disobeyed the covenant. Eli's sons were priests to the Lord, supposedly, Hophni and Phinehas. They were wicked, wicked, wicked, evil, evil men. And Eli, if you want to see a picture of a worthless father, Eli was one. He knew better, but the most that he could energize himself up to do was say, now, boys, boys. Why are you lying with women there in the tabernacle? And why are you stealing the Lord's sacrifices and doing these things and threatening the people that come, robbing the people? Now, boys, come on. If you make a man an enemy to you, well, that's one thing. But if you make God your enemy, then that's all that he would come up with then, you see. stop and say, it's our sin, is the reason that we've been defeated by the Philistines. That's the problem, then, you see. But they think that they can manipulate God. See, that's the danger of an idol. That's really the motivation of the idolater. God himself, the living and true God, cannot be manipulated. You can't manipulate and use him. So people make an idol god that they can manipulate. And that's what they were doing. They were perverting the religion of the true Lord into this business of, well, here's this holy object here. It's got some power in it. We're going to take it into battle then. So, well, it didn't work. Hophni and Phinehas were put to death, Eli dies, more yet of the Israelites were killed. And worst of all, and Eli recognized this, it was bad enough when he heard his sons had died, but he knew they deserved that, didn't surprise him. But when he heard that the Ark of the Lord had been taken by the Philistines, He falls over and breaks his neck. And his daughter-in-law rightly named the child Ichabod. Ichabod, the glory has departed from Israel. Now, the Philistines regarded this as what? A triumph for Dagon. I mean, obviously, to them, Dagon is a mightier god than the god of the Israelites. See, these kind of people, they don't believe in one almighty, eternal creator God. It's, well, you know, the Israelites, they got their God, and we've got Dagon, and all these other gods, and so forth. And in this case, well, Dagon prevailed. He took the Ark of the Lord. So they take it. kind of a mocking of Yahweh. They take it and they put the ark right in Dagon's temple, right in front of his statue, of the idol statue. And so they're mocking God. And so here's Dagon. They prayed to him. In their view, he had powerfully delivered them. But things are going to take a turn for the worse real quickly here for the Philistines. And we already read Psalm 97 this morning. Yahweh reigns. Let the earth rejoice. And then in verse 7, let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast of idols. Worship him. Worship Yahweh, all you gods. He's greater than all of you gods. And so their boast in Dagon is about to be proven to be a lie. And he's thrown down. Here's these first few verses of chapter 5 again. The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Then the Ashtonites arose early the next morning, and behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord." In other words, he's prone in a worshiping demeanor before the ark. He's humbled. So they come in, and they find him, and like Every idol, Dagon can't do anything. He's fallen over, but he can't get up. He can't do it. This is the insanity of idolatry. He can't do anything. So they take him, this god that they pray to and give sacrifices to and look to for deliverance. They have to pick him back up, prop him back up again. And then the next morning, they come, and it's worse yet. He's fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of Yahweh. This time, his head and his hands are broken off. And so here he is, broken before the Lord. And things are going to get even worse for them, see? The Lord struck the Philistines with tumors. Now, again, the idolater is so mad in his pursuit of his God that even if he knows, and the Philistines did, even if they know that Yahweh is greater, even if they know it, they're under his judgment, they will not give up their idol. They won't submit. The sinner will not submit, then, to the Lord. So they knew that Yahweh had humbled Dagon, and they knew that these tumors, whatever they were that the Lord had brought upon, they knew he brought them. He was doing this. But they didn't humble themselves before him, no. Instead, they gather everybody together and say, This arc thing, this is what's called, we've got to get rid of it. Somehow we've got to get rid of it. Some of them were dying. And then they sent it to another town. Hey, we don't want it. Let's get rid of this thing. Well, Dagon gives us a good picture of an idol, and specifically of the idol of self. Idols have no power to save. False gods cannot deliver. Their worshipers, if they happen to carve a literal image, they'll carve eyes and mouths and noses and ears and so forth, but they can't do anything. They've got hands they can't touch, they can't feel. They're dead. They're just the product of of the foolish sinner. Isaiah 40 is classic. To whom would you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we would be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh silver on the scale, they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god. They fall down. Indeed, they worship it. They carry it upon the shoulder and bear it. They set it in its place. It stands there. It doesn't move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it can't answer. It cannot save him from his distress. In our day, here's one perfect example. It's been in the news so much. Rome is a perfect, that perfectly describes the Roman Catholic so-called church. What did they do? They make images, and they pray to images. And they go in procession. You've seen them. They go in procession with adoring crowds around, carrying some dead, idle image of Mary or some saint or someone. There's all this pomp and circumstance. But the image can't move. That's why they have to carry it. This is the God that they're looking to and praying to and so on. When they set it down, they have to be careful it doesn't topple and fall over. And here's the deluded masses crying out to it for help, but it can't hear, it can't see, it can't save, it can't do anything. And so you see how billions and billions of people throughout the world are deceived by Satan. They have their idols, their self-made gods, their own self-made priesthoods and temples and so on. That's what Rome is. That is what Rome is. And we must not forget it. The new pope, he's all over the news. Here's the one bearing the title of vicar. But what is the pope? What is Rome? It's Antichrist. It is Antichrist. The reformers were not reluctant to say so. They weren't reluctant to say that the man of lawlessness will be the pope. And certainly, it could be a pope. But we know this with certainty, that Rome is of Antichrist. So here today, the thing grows worse, doesn't it? Because in our day, literally, the whole world can see what's going on. So here is this new pope with all his bright robes and so forth, and mobs of people, including in this country, are just worshiping him. And even our Well, our president and his administration and so forth are just oohing and aahing over this pope. And what an honor it is that a pope from America has been selected. Well, so there were the Philistines. Here's Dagon. He's toppled over. His head and his hands are broken off. And here's the point. Think of these priests coming in. They find him toppled over. They have to set him back up, right? He's been shown to be helpless, dead, topples over again. His head breaks off. His hands break off. What are they going to do then? Dead images, the idols of man, require constant energetic Maintenance and repair. You know, the priests of many of these pagan gods down through history, they would take food in to feed the idol, right? And no doubt, there's some kind of scam there that somebody would come in and take the food away. Oh, there, he must have eaten it, and so forth. And so they would bring some more. In contrast, here's the Lord. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the one who leads forth their hosts by number. He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of his vigor and the strength of his power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from Yahweh, just as do me passes by my God? Do you not know? Have you not heard the everlasting God, Yahweh, the creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't become weary or tired? His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weary, and to him who lacks vigor, he increases might. Though youths grow weary and tired, and choice young men stumble badly, yet those who hope in Yahweh will gain new power. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. That's the true and living God. He doesn't need to be propped up and maintained. He props up and maintains. He energizes. He is the Lord of hosts, the creator. So let's come back to this idol of self that so characterizes the community in which we live. I would say it's the religion of the town. This is the religion. of the town, the image of self. And most of the so-called churches here are its temples. They stay in business by feeding an exalting self in a Christian disguise for self-glory, you see. Those who serve self also construct an image, like Dagon. It's not a literal image or statue. Rome has those, as we mentioned. But the image of self is what? How is the idol god of self constructed? It's constructed in a name, in a reputation, a family name, for example. It's the same as the spirit of Babel. And they said. Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach unto heaven. Let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth." And there it is. There it is. I'm going to make a name. We must make a name for ourselves. So the chief idol of the sinner is himself. No matter what idol a man creates, you can always, if you look closely enough, you can always find the image of the man himself. His idolatry is really self-worship. He seeks his own glory. He builds his own temple where he can be praised. And he even takes measures so that the idol of self will endure. It'll be perpetuated. Think of the pyramids of the pharaohs. What is that all about? Well, somehow they want to live on, self, in their own eternity, the tombs of the pharaohs. And this is all an illustration, an example of this wicked idol called self. Like all idols, the idol of self has no power to save because it's constructed by man. It's not a god at all. And it has to be constantly propped up. And it has to be repaired. And it has to be defended by its worshipers so that The idolater who is worshiping self expends vast amounts of energy, moment by moment, to keep this god of self propped up. There's been one chief common denominator that I've seen over and over again here in the last 32 years of ministry and people that have made shipwreck of their faith. And it's this, when self is exposed as a false god, when self is exposed, when this idol is exposed as a false god, when Dagon's image topples, its worshipers become enraged. They become enraged. The worshipers of self are terrified that their god's going to be exposed for what it is, a false god, A dead image. And so they do all they can, moment by moment, to keep that image propped up, you see. They boast. They build buildings. They put themselves forward. They make a name for themselves in the community. They flatter so that they can be flattered, like the false teachers in Galatia. They have children for the purpose of passing on the name. And they establish their churches where self can be adored. And they demand that you worship self, their God, or else, or else. It is their precious. And anyone who treads on their precious, criticizes it, calls it to accounts, exposes it, well, the fangs are going to come out. Listen to this account. And we could probably plug the name of our own community into this account from Acts chapter 19, because it's a perfect description of how a community and how individuals in that community construct a false god, which really is the worship, then, of themselves. Acts 19, about that time. There arose no little disturbance concerning the way. That's what the gospel and Christ's people were originally called. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, that was the god of that town, right? Brought no little business to the craftsman. These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and men You know that from this business, we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. Duh, right? Well, he's saying gods made with hands are not gods. And there's a danger, not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple, I think that temple might have been one of the original seven wonders of the world, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. You can certainly say these things about Rome. When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. That's the same thing that you're going to find in this community. And you could go probably to any community, but this is the one we live in. This is what we need to be familiar with. And is this God a self? What would Tillamook's goddess be called? Ephesus was Artemis. But here is this gospel. Here's this word coming in among us. And it's threatening us. Don't ever forget this. It's a threat to economics as well. One of the chief reasons you're going to find the wrath of Rome against them, just as it was in Martin Luther's day, is this guy is going to cost us money here, you see. And we cannot have that. So here is this god of self, right? This is the God of our town. This is me. This is my God. Classic of the narcissist, right? This is my God. I've set him up. You better not ever touch him. Now, in contrast to that, we can more fully understand, with that backdrop, we can understand what it is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, just the opposite. Listen to some things that he said, Matthew 10. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. Why? Because if you follow Christ, the household gods are exposed as false, that's why. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. If you're God is self, you're gonna lose self. Matthew 16, then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself. Let him deny self and take up his cross, die to self, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life, save self, will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In Hebrews 11, by faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Regarding the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. What is Jesus, what is the word telling us here? Deny. He who is last will be first. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to be the servant of all. We have to deny self. Self is crucified with Christ. That's what a cross is for. A cross is for putting a person to death. And that's what Jesus meant. We need to look at Moses here. reject self-glory in this world and be willing to suffer the reproach of Christ and to follow him. So if a man or a woman or a young person is craving self-glory, then that person can't be saved. They can't follow Christ because Christ will not have them. Galatians 2. I have been crucified with Christ. It requires self to die with Christ, to be born again. I must die. I have to be joined to Christ so that his death on the cross is my death, his burial is my burial, and the old man is dead and gone. That idol of self is history. And we're raised up, then, a new creation. So you can have Dagon, you can have the god of self, or you can have Christ, but you can't have both. And I can confidently say most professing Christians today think that they have their foot in both kingdoms. They think that you can do this. I can seek self-exaltation. as a God, and I can be a Christian too, and it won't work. It simply won't work. The idolater whose God is self is going to find the true Lord Jesus Christ repugnant. Why? Because to follow Christ like him, you have to become a fool. The world will regard you as a fool. Out the window goes the idol, then, of self. First Corinthians 3, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks he's wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he may become wise. You can't worship the god of self Be foolish, as Paul is calling it here. If you're worshiping the God of self, you're going to be wise in the eyes of the world, wise in the eyes of yourself. But to follow Christ, I have to be willing to become a fool. 1 Corinthians 4, we are fools for the sake of Christ. But you, you Corinthians, you're so great in your own eyes. You're prudent in Christ. We're weak, but you're strong. You are glorious, but we're without honor. To this present hour, we hunger and thirst and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless. We labor, working with our own hands. When we're reviled, we bless. When we're persecuted, we endure. When we're slandered, we try to plead. We have become, as the scum of the world, the grime of all things, even until now. And as long as I am worshiping the idol of self, making a name for myself, you see, then there is no way I will join with Christ and join with his apostles and be regarded then as the scum of the earth. This idol infects not only the community, but it infects the churches all around us here. And you can tell it. You can see it. All you have to do to see that this is the case is to cause Dagon's image to teeter just a little bit. Over the years, and like everybody, I learned the hard way, but in dealing with these Dagon worshipers, these worshipers of self that claim to be Christians, consistently, almost verbatim, word for word. When they're idle of self, they realize it's teetering. Their disguise is being seen through, all right? Self is threatened. Their image, their name is being threatened. And they hear about it and so forth. I can't tell you how many times These kind of people, in their rage, have come to me and said, you talked about us. You talked about us. Well, what? They never say you lied. They just say you talked about it. Why are they so enraged? Because self is threatened, you see. Self is threatened, and they're exposed then to be the idolaters that they are. They're worshiping self. Mac has told me stories about how he's seen this same kind of thing operating then in the community, people getting enraged because somebody saw the flaw in them, saw the disguise then, you see. So here we come back to that original question. Maybe you haven't had a chance to think about it too much. But what are some of the ways in the world, and in this community as well, what are some of the ways in which young people and adults are being trained to create this image of self? That's what life is about. Make a name for yourself. Get this self glory for yourself. That's what it's about. What are some ways that They're being brainwashed into thinking that that's what life is all about. What do you think? I'll repeat it so people can hear. Yeah, so in educating and raising up young people, I know that's how it was in the family that I grew up with. And the family I grew up in was claimed to be Christian. But look, here's what it all comes down to. You've got to plan for a good career here. And what you want to do is you need to excel. You need to excel at this. These are kind of some half-truths. That's what makes them more dangerous, right? To be the best that you absolutely can, you need to be a success in life. So for example, I can give you another example of this. When here I am growing up and being raised in a family that claimed to be Christian, then that was the kind of thing that then I was told. I was never really given any, definitely from my father, Never any spiritual instruction at all. It was always, look, here's what it's all about. You go to college, and you work hard, and you got to get the best grades that you can, all right? That's it, boy. And I can remember in my college years, that stuck with me. And I did get the best grades that you could have really did too. And I remember, you know, report cards. in college at the end of the term and you're just kind of hanging there and to get those. And then I could call home and I could say, I got straight A's, you know, and get your pats on the back and so forth. But no spiritual instruction then at all. But as time went along and the Lord got hold of me and I grew more in the Lord and I started to go off toward Well, I can't say that I started to pursue being a pastor. I didn't intend that. I just wanted to know God's word. I just wanted, and so I went to Multnomah and Bible College and so forth. But at the same time, I could tell, and it snuck up on me slowly, but my, what, I became increasingly kind of despised by my parents. My sister married a guy who had business savvy, and he made lots and lots and lots of money. And so I would watch, and I see my dad just really praising him and me. I was down here. If you're not willing to be regarded as a fool for Christ, You can't follow him then, you see. This is the kind of thing that is going to happen. So in the family, the family is another example of how we are teaching our children about, well, this is what real greatness is. Real greatness. This is it. Boy, you've got to get these good grades. You've got to be successful and get into something where you can make this kind of money and so on. Jason? I actually saw a barista in Hillsboro that had a t-shirt that's with a pentagram, and it said, believe in yourself. OK, so yeah, see. They're selling t-shirts that say, believe in yourself. There's a plain example of the god of self. Believe in yourself, with a satanic background imagery there. Yeah, all of these, see, we're surrounded by this kind of a thing. Consider. OK, back to the Pope again. All these crowds, and it's just, the whole thing is stupid because it's like, ooh, white smoke. All right. So somebody put a meme on that was like white smoke coming up above a McDonald's. And he said that somehow they've got it right at McDonald's. But at any rate, they're doing this kind of a thing. But people are just adoringly thronging to this pope. And here he is in all of his glory, all of his robe, and people want to participate in it, just for a second. Engage a little bit of logic here. Compare this pope with these massive crowds and all this wealth at the Vatican and all of his outfit and the priests and cardinals and everything. Compare that with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any resemblance then at all? None. This is not of Christ. It's Antichrist, then, you see. What we need to be teaching our children is that, yeah, you should work hard in school for the glory of God, but not for yourself. Don't go into life creating self as that's what it's all about. I need to get praise for myself. That's what it's about. No, if you're going to follow Christ, you have to be then a fool for Christ. Here's a little bit of a diagnostic tool in this regard. How open are we to truth about myself? How open am I to truth about myself? Do I get really bent out of shape or even rage when someone applies truth to me? Am I constantly busy propping Dagon up because God's truth has knocked him over a bit? Well, if that's the case, then you're in bondage. and a slave, then, to that. You're like Diotrephes, who loved to be first there in 3 John. Look it. You don't have to be a slave to self. Maybe your parents taught you that, introduced you to that religion of self, that idolatry. But it's enslaving. You'll become a slave to it. A narcissist, we call that personality disorder a narcissist. What is it? It's just a person that's enslaved to self. They expend huge amounts of energy, moment by moment, propping up Dagon, protecting self. And if you want to see fangs come out and rage, just criticize self. Expose self. provide some input for the best motives for the person, some input regarding this, and you'll see then what happens. So we need to realize this. In the world and in this community, we live in a place where the air is poison. It's characterized by this worship of self, you see. And it's a plague. It's all around us. If we don't prepare our children and our grandchildren and ourselves to stand against this, it will get us. It will get us. And we've seen that once again in this church. Over the years, family after family after family, young people, children, one after another, you see them over the years grow up, and off they go. than out into the world. So here's the question. Have you died to self? Has your old man died? Are you joined to Christ through faith in Christ? Have you been born again? Or are you in bondage to this thing that every day when you get up and you go out, I have to make a name for myself? protect my image. I have to be liked by everybody. This kind of, you know, that's a horrible burden. That's a horrible thing to be enslaved to. But Christ has come that we can be set free. Psalm 113, praise the Lord Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations in his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who's seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord. Father, we pray that you would take these words from scripture and bring them home powerfully to us and pray that to the degree anyone here or anyone listening is enslaved to this whole ugly business of self and having to make a name for themselves and so on, rather than submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ and being set free. We pray, Father, that you would show them their need, that they might be set free. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen.