Dangers Of Idolatry

January 23, 2021

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

~I John 5:21~

We know how much God hates idols since the beginning of time. It all started when satan idolized himself so much he chose to rebel against God. He lost his spot in heaven. From there on, since creation and beyond, God dealt with many situations where His people not only idolized other gods in front of Him but they created statues to worship and bow down to. This is an abomination to the Lord, so much so that the very first commandment is this; "‘You shall have no other gods before Me."

(Deuteronomy 5:7)

Followed by the second commandment; "‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."

(Deuteronomy 5:8)

This was very clear to God's people to say, "no idols, I am your only God," and "I am the Creator, not you."

Did people listen? Of course not. Was God suprised? Not one bit. Time and time again He witnessed as multiple people led their own path to destruction with useless idol worship, pagan god practices and sacrificial abominations to foreign items. All in all this stems from evil in the heart. When we give into idols we plant an evil seed we never expect to rot inside of us. If you read back on all the biblical stories of what idolizing did to God's people, you will notice it never ends good. God is a jealous God who wants us all to Himself; "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

(Deuteronomy 4:24)

He will never take idolatry lightly. I think these days we are swarmed with idolatry and God notices. All too often people claim to not have enough time to spend praying or reading the bible yet they are glued to their phone or out shopping with money they don't even have. This, to God, is idolizing worldy possessions; "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

(I John 2:15)

When we focus on the world more then God, satan is laughing as he knows he still has a way into our life. Satan uses things in the world to lewer us into his traps of temptation; with internet, addiction, tv, music or money. When we latch on to these items more then we latch onto God we are giving into those temptations. We are called to abide in Him. It would be one thing to enjoy the possessions we have while giving thanks to the Lord for them and still giving most of our time to Him; but when we enjoy our possessions over and over and never acknowledge the Lord, all while making excuses for not abiding in Him, we are officially sucked into idolatry. God will not be pleased with us. In fact, He will be angry. He still gets that way in case we have forgotten He never changes; "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

(Hebrews 13:8)

The commandments of God are the same, He is the same. Most of the time people use Jesus' sacrifice as a way of continuing to live as they please, however, this is wrong. Jesus did not die for us to live in sin, He died for us to be free from sin and to follow Him.

As this response from the Lord Himself as He asked the adulteress woman a simple question: "Has no one condemned you?"

"She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

(John 8:11)

Jesus did not save this woman from death only to allow her to continue in her adultery. He specifically says sin no more.

We as christians have to understand just as the israelites had to understand that God should be the focal point of our life. We should be giving more time to Him and casting aside useless idols. He did not die so that we could worship what we own. We only have these things because Jesus allows us to, we should be worshipping only Him. Satan likes to distract and hinder our time with God, he likes to make people think that "its just not necessary" to abide all that much because satan knows the more you abide the more we become like Jesus, the clearer the word of God becomes and the more our faith increases; "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

(Galatians 3:2)

Satan does not want the Spirit of God working in you.

Satan knows if he can snatch your time away from going to Jesus, he can have you fall into his trap of idolatry, which will cause destruction; one of his greatest skills is destroying.

"Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." (Luke 8:12)

Jesus takes no pleasure in this. This is why we are told as little children to keep ourselves from idols. When we let evil into our eyes and ears it sinks into our hearts. What so ever comes out of our hearts reveal how we truely stand for the kingdom; "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)

If we are spending more of our time in prayer and reading the word then what do you believe will come out of our mouth? If we are spending more time in caring about worldly possessions and idolizing ourselves over Jesus, what do you think will come out of our mouth? We must really take a look at things around us and understand it is not of our own works. We do not deserve them. There needs to be fear of the Lord inside of us.

"They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.” (Jeremiah 5:24)

We remember how God felt about these folks in Jeremiah's time. They backslid so far from God and landed into idolatry that God became fed up and judged them, for He is Holy. He cannot ignore sin. Many people died and mourned loss. God deserves our constant love and attention, for He has made us. It is no different then a parent being ignored by a child of theirs who would rather play hours on end of video games or be glued to their phone without listening when the parent gives a time limit. Eventually the parent gets angry or upset as they just want their child back loving and respecting them.

Certain things may seem simple to us, but satan can use these devices to turn us away from Jesus and towards him. "lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." (II Corinthians 2:11)

Jesus is saying come to Me my children, for this world is perishing and the things in it are too. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal."

(Matthew 6:19)

When we choose not to listen we are being foolish children. Idolatry is still hated by God. Meditate on that as you claim to follow Jesus and think about how much time you spend with Him verse your possessions and yourself. Keep yourself from idols my friends. They are damaging to the spirit.

Prayer:

Gracious God, thank you for many gifts You have sent to me from heaven. Show me any area of my life I may have an idol so that I may get rid of it for You. I do not wish to become deceived by the devil. I do not wish to fall into his traps. Help me pull down every stronghold in my life that has created a diversion in worshipping You. Remind me Holy Spirit to push myself further into prayer and the word of God as I know this is most important. I want to fully abide in the Lord and grow in maturity from milk to meat. If I have offended You in anyway Father, forgive me. I repent for this nation as a whole for the constant idolatry taking place and I pray You can open the eyes of the blind. All glory, honor and praise to Adonai as He sits on His throne in patience watching His children be disobedient. I vow to do what so ever You need of me today to shine the light of the kingdom on this dark world. It is in Your Name which carries power and authority, Jesus Christ. Amen.