We'll find ourselves in Psalm 115 tonight. As you're turning there, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we confess that we are prone to wander, God, that we are prone to look away from you. And we cry, we believe, help our unbelief. God, we ask that as we look into your word tonight, that you would make the gospel more beautiful and more believable to us, and that we would walk away renewed. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. In his book, Seculosity, David Zoll makes the case that although people are leaving capital R religion, our society is not becoming less religious. We tend to worship many things, and as Zal writes, we fail to recognize that what we're actually worshiping when we obsess over food or money or politics is not the thing itself, but how that thing makes us feel, if only for a moment. Our religion is that which we rely on, not just for meaning or hope, but enoughness. Look around, you'll be sure to see and hear people, in Zal's words, scrambling to be successful enough, happy enough, thin enough, wealthy enough, influential enough, desired enough, woke enough, good enough. We believe instinctively that were we to reach some benchmark in our minds, then value, vindication, and love would be ours. That if we got enough, we would be enough. Saul is using the word enoughness, but the more biblical word would be justification. And searching for justification in anything other than the blood of Jesus is idolatry. In our text tonight, we will examine the outcome for people that look for their justification from their idols. So having laid the groundwork, let's get into Psalm 115. The main idea here in this song, sung by God's people, is they are surrounded by idolatrous cultures, whether that's the nations around the promised land, their exile in Babylon, Roman occupation, or the Chicago suburbs. is this, trust in your maker, not in the things you make. He is the one who brings salvation, deliverance, and blessing. He is the one worthy of glory and praise. Before we look at our text for the evening, which is verse eight, let me read the first eight verses of the chapter to set the context. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Why should the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak. Eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel. Feet, but do not walk. And they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them. Those who make them become like them, so do those who trust in them. Who are these people that make and trust in idols? In the context of the psalm, it seems like they are the idolatrous nations and the individuals that make up the nation. Those who say, where is their God? As people look to the things that are of their own making, they are like them. They may hear and see physically, but they are blind and deaf to the word of God and the things that have to do with salvation. In Matthew 13, Jesus talked about those who couldn't understand his parables, saying, Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive, for this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their hearts, or hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and in turn, I would heal them. Isn't this true of the people in our day? We don't have to look far to see people with dull hearts, ears that are plugged, eyes that are shut, amusing themselves to death, completely unaware of the healing that's before them. Church, being surrounded by idolatry, should elicit the response that Paul had in Athens when his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. The NIV says he was greatly distressed. The result of his distress? He reasoned with the people in the synagogues and the streets. Brothers and sisters, speak up. Trust that the gospel will be successful as it overcomes every challenge. When we gather here on Sunday evenings, we regularly pray that God would gather his people to his banner and heal them. The people from Psalm 115, verse eight, those are the people we're praying for. I recently heard a story of a woman who was a practicing Wiccan, from which I understand is the fastest growing religion in America. She was talking with a pastor, came to understand that the blood of Jesus paid for even the sin of her idolatry of being a Wiccan. She was recently baptized, joined a Bible-believing church. The same God that forgave her sin and her idolatry. The God that forgave my sin and my idolatry. The God that forgave your sin and your idolatry will forgive the sin and idolatry of all of our neighbors. Continue to be faithful in praying. Be the persistent widow from Luke 18 and bring your request to the judge. Pray earnestly for restoration like Daniel as you seek God's favor. The gospel will be successful and accomplish its purpose. Do you believe that? Friends, we need to be careful here. Our tendency is to externalize this idolatry to the mythical them and not pay attention to what this text says to us. Because, well, we're Christians. We don't worship idols. We're Jesus followers here. The problem with that is if we are honest about where we look for our sense of well-being, we know that we are prone to allow idols to sway the devotion of our hearts as well. Take a moment, think about your own desire for what David Zoll called enoughness. Do you sense the draw of feeling enough because you're super busy? Do your political views make you feel superior to others? Do you look to your kids as your badge of honor, your spouse, your parents? Maybe you feel good about yourself because of what you eat. Maybe it's what you abstain from putting into your body. Do you go into a deep funk when your team loses? Could it be you feel a sense of pride as to how well you keep your personal code of ethics and laws? Here's all once again. Whenever you are most tired, Look closely and you'll find self-justification at work, the drive to validate your existence, to assert your lovability via adherence to some standard of enoughness, be it behavioral or conceptual, given or inverted. This propensity to make idols of things, both good things and evil things, is completely natural to the human heart. We automatically do it and need to be on guard against it. I think this is what John Calvin was referring to when he said the human heart is a perpetual idol factory. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses warned against the idolatry he knew would pull at the hearts of the people of God, warning them not to forget the covenant that he made with them because the Lord their God is a consuming fire, promising that if they followed idols, They would serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Similar ideas can be found throughout the Old Testament, most notably Isaiah 44 and Jeremiah 10. In the New Testament, passages like Revelation 9, 20, 1 Corinthians 10, 19 through 20, associate idolatry with demons. Unbeliever, hear the warnings. What you are worshiping only brings death. Christian, hear the warnings. When you look elsewhere for your enoughness, you grieve the Spirit as you return to living as you did before your salvation, where you were separated from the life of God. That's Ephesians 4. Continue to look to Christ in repentance and faith and become like Him, our living Savior. Christopher Ashe, in his commentary on Psalms, was insightful on this passage in Psalm 115. He writes, in his death, Jesus became like a dead idol, with eyes that could no longer see, a mouth that could no longer speak, ears that could no longer hear, hands that could no longer reach out and touch in love, and feet that could no longer move. He bore for his people the judgment we deserved. as opposed to the false gods that cannot speak. The true God speaks the final word in Christ. Idols have ears that cannot hear, and eyes that cannot see the needs and sufferings of their worshipers. Exodus 2, 24 and 25 tells us that God heard the groanings of the Israelites. He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. Jesus, the incarnate God, seated at the right hand of the Father, sees our suffering. He hears our prayers. He intercedes for us. Idols have noses, but can't smell the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice that is supposed to make their worshipers acceptable to them. Our God accepts the sacrifice of His Son, perfect in His obedience to the law, so we can be counted as righteous. Idols have hands that cannot feel, They are unable to act in this world. Jesus walked the earth. Sorry, Jesus reaches out and heals the lepers with a touch. Idols have feet but cannot walk. Jesus walked the earth and made himself present to save in a particular place and time as the false gods never could. Those who make and trust idols become like them. those who trust in the finished work of Christ for their justification, for their enoughness, become like Him. Believer, take your feet, your blistered, bunioned feet. Let them be counted as beautiful as you preach the gospel of peace, bring glad tidings of great joy. Tell the story of our Savior, born in a cattle stall, who lived the life we could never live, died the death that we deserve to die, Let your life be a sacrifice of praise that is a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Know that you do not have to look elsewhere for your enoughness because you are in Jesus and he is enough. Let's pray. Lord God, we give you praise. We thank you that Jesus is enough for us. Help us to look to him, the author and finisher of our faith. and not look aside to other things. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.