Which Side Are You On? | A Warning Against Idolatry

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Sign up at harvest.org. Consider this, an idol is not necessarily a bad thing. It's a good thing that you've made into a God thing. We may not be worshiping graven images on pedestals, but Pastor Greg Laurie says if something captures more of our attention than God does, that's trouble.

There's nothing wrong with a lot of things that we're involved in, but if that becomes the most important thing, you've allowed a good thing to become a God thing, and it's taken the place of God in your life. We throw the word idol around pretty freely in our culture. So and so is a teen idol.

Did you watch American Idol? Humphrey Bogart was a matinee idol. Biblically speaking, an idol is a representation or symbol of an object of worship. It's a clear transgression of the first commandment. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie warns about idol worship based on an epic confrontation in 1 Kings 18. Elijah goes toe to toe with the prophets of Baal. Israel had gone off the rails spiritually and morally. They turned to false gods.

They turned to idols. And specifically in their case, they turned to Baal and Ashtoreth. Enter Elijah who enters the picture with boldness and courage and throws down the gauntlet. So Elijah says, okay, Ahab, here's the deal. 1 Kings 18, 19. Summon all of Israel to join me on Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth who are supported by Jezebel. Elijah likes these odds.

850 to what? Bring out all your false prophets. Let's get up there on Mount Carmel. Tell Israel to show up.

Let's have this battle right now. It was the battle of the gods. Here's what amazes me is Ahab agrees to this. 1 Kings 18, 20. So Ahab summoned all of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him.

If Baal is God, then follow him. But look at this. But the people were completely silent. Their silence was deafening.

Why? Because they worshiped many gods and they did not want to stop. So hey, let's go. Let's see who has the real God.

So here it is. 1 Kings 18, 26. They prepared one of the bulls, placed it on the altar, and called in the name of Baal from morning till noontime, shouting, oh Baal, answer us.

But there was no reply of any kind. And then they danced hobbling around the altar that they made. It's kind of funny. And it gets funnier, by the way.

So they're screaming and hobbling, doing everything. Come on, Baal. Hear us. Now we may laugh at that. But listen, idol worship is alive and well today. Oh sure, they worshiped Baal. They worshiped Ashtoreth. But do we not worship idols today? This is why John, in some of his last words that he gave to the church after walking with the Lord for many years, said, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Listen, an idol is not merely an object, though it includes that. An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. Let me repeat that.

An idol is anything or anyone that takes the place of God in your life. Answer this question. What gets you out of bed in the morning? Some people say, breakfast.

Okay, that's not a bad answer. But I mean, what are you really passionate about? What do you get fired up about? What is the thing that you think about more than any other thing? That potentially is your idol. Consider this, an idol is not necessarily a bad thing. It's a good thing that you've made into a God thing. It's a good thing you've made into a God thing.

Meaning it might be good. There's nothing wrong with a career. There's nothing wrong with making a living. There's nothing wrong with a lot of things that we're involved in. But if that becomes the most important thing that literally can become an evil thing, you've allowed a good thing to become a God thing.

And it's taken the place of God in your life. Here's one way to find out what people are passionate about. Check out their social media.

And by the way, employers are doing this now more. When someone comes in and applies for a job, they go check out their social media. What do they post on Twitter? What do they talk about on Facebook?

What kind of photos do they post on Instagram? You know, this is of interest to them because the Bible says, where your posts are, there will your heart be also. Doesn't say exactly that. It actually says where your money is, there will your heart be also.

But I think it could include your post as well. I know Christians that used to post about their faith and they would use their social platforms to share the gospel and they'd have scriptures and then something happened. I don't know what. And they became these what?

And they became these crazy, ranting people. And everything's in caps, all caps, right? And if you want to make it even crazier, reverse it out of black so it's white letters.

Even better, red letters against a black background. You're ranting about this, you're ranting about that. You start losing followers. No one wants to hear your rants anymore.

What happened? Your focus changed. Could that thing that you're so obsessed with now actually become your idol? You can make yourself God in your life. You effectively worship yourself. You don't say it outright. You know, my Greg who art in heaven. No, you don't do that. But in effect, you do. Romans 1 25 says, they traded the truth about God for a lie.

They worshiped and served the things God created instead of the creator himself who is worthy of eternal praise. Maybe it's worshiping your body. You attend the first church of the perfect physique, right?

Just getting your body into the perfect shape. You have hundreds of photos of yourself on Instagram doing the trout pout. Do you know the trout pout? Girls, come on now.

Girls do it more than guys. That little thing where you push your lips and look at the camera. It's like, I don't know. It's weird looking to me. Or maybe you get plastic surgery to try to look how you look on your social media posts when you use a certain kind of filter. Go for it.

You can nip it, tuck it, tighten it, tat it, color it, whatever. Don't become obsessed with your body or with yourself. Be obsessed, if you will, about Jesus Christ.

That's our message. Others bow at the altars of pleasure. Even others at the altars of possessions or fame. Your idol could be a car. It could be a house. It could be clothes.

It could be so many things. Or it could be money. You know, sometimes people say, the Bible says money is the root of all evil. Actually, the Bible does not say that.

Okay? Here's what the Bible does say. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

There's a difference, isn't there? Money is not evil. Money is not good. Money is neutral. The good or the evil of money all depends on what you do with it. So the love of money, or maybe another way to put it, being obsessed with money is the root of all kinds of evil.

And some people craving money, it goes on to say in 1 Timothy 6, 10, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. See, it's a big deal to God to be number one in your life. Think about the 10 commandments for a moment. Okay, so commandment number one. Thou shall not murder.

Right? No. It's not number one. No, it's thou shall not commit adultery.

That's a bad one, but it's not number one. Nor is it thou shall not steal. Or even thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain. Commandment number one is have no other gods before me. Now, if we were to re-prioritize the commandments, we might change the order. But God says the big thing at the beginning of this conversation, let me say, don't have another god before me. Because if you have another god before him, that's where all the problems start. You see, if God is number one in your life, everything will find its proper balance. If he's not number one in your life, everything will be in chaos. I want to be number one.

Why? The Lord says, Ezekiel 20, verse four. Because I'm a jealous god. I've heard people say, I can't follow a god who's jealous. Hey, his jealousy is an indication of his love for you. Not all jealousy is bad. It speaks of a relationship. God said, hey, I want an exclusive relationship with you. What would you think if your husband came and said, honey, I love you.

We've been married 20 years, but I have five girlfriends now. Are you cool with that? You're not cool with that. Honey, this is a frying pan. Are you cool with this?

Yeah. No, you want an exclusive relationship with your husband or your boyfriend or your girlfriend or your wife. And God says, I want you to be mine and only mine. I don't want to share you with some false god. So this is what I'm asking of you. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're considering the showdown on Mount Carmel today, as Pastor Greg continues our studies based in 1 Kings 18.

Let's continue. Here's the thing that was happening with Israel. Elijah says you're wavering or hobbling between two opinions. See, they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. And I've said jokingly, I don't know why that's a problem. I've had cake and eaten it.

But the idea is I want the best of both worlds. Here was their thing. Oh, we believe in God. We believe in Jehovah. But I don't know, Ashtoreth and Baal, kind of cool.

Nice fringe benefits. See, Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility, there's a lot of immoral things. Well, I don't even know if they are immoral. It's part of the worship.

We kind of want to do that too. So don't think we don't do that in the church today. Because people say, I'm a Christian, but I'm having sex before marriage. Well, wait a second.

You can't do that. God says in Scripture, this is the will of God, even your sanctification, abstain from immorality. No, no. The Lord told me it was okay.

No, he didn't. So you're saying, I want to have it all. I'll go to church on Sunday and worship the Lord, but then I'll go do this other thing.

No. Or someone else might say, well, you know, we love each other, so we're living together. It's a test run before we get married. No, you're living in sin and rebellion against God.

And actually, you want to know something. Statistically, studies have shown that couples who live together have a far higher divorce rate than those who don't. If you want to sabotage a potential marriage, then live together.

See, here's my point. People are trying to live in two worlds. Oh, I love the Lord, but we're going to go party. We're going to get drunk.

We're going to smoke weed. No. This is what Elijah is saying. Stop living in two worlds. If the Lord is God, then follow Him. And if Baal is God, then follow Him. But make a choice right now. And it's still true today.

It's still true today. The Bible says, go big or stay home. Actually, it doesn't say that.

But it's a good thought. And really, here's what Elijah is saying. If the Lord is God, then you should follow Him.

Joshua gave a similar charge to Israel back in Joshua 24, 15. Standing before the people, he said to them, choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?

Or will it be the gods of the Amorites? As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Make that stand in your home, husbands. Listen to me. Be a man of God. Stand up and say in your home, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Wives, you do the same thing. Because your children need you to do this desperately.

Because only a generation passed after Joshua made that statement when we read in Judges 2 10, but another generation grew up and they worshiped the false gods. See? It's as good as your generation. So you need to pass this on to your children and to your grandchildren. That's our job as we get older.

We've got to do it. And then there's those young people we pass it on to. They're going to get older.

Then it's going to be their job. And then their children and their grandchildren, then on it goes. But we need to make sure we do our job and pass this torch of the truth of God's Word and a relationship with Christ on to the next generation. 1 Kings 18 verse 27.

I'm reading from the New Living Translation. About noontime, Elijah began mocking them. I just like that statement. Because I am a mocker. And I'm glad I'm not the only mocker out there. Elijah began mocking them.

Hey! He says you have to shout louder. He is a god. Maybe he's daydreaming or relieving himself. Folks this is in the Bible. That's actually what he said in the original language. Maybe your God's in the I don't know the eternal outhouse right now. Or as the Living Translation puts it, maybe your God's sitting on the toilet.

I always thought that was kind of funny. So that's actually what he was implying. He was joking. Oh maybe he's away on a trip.

Or maybe he's asleep and you need to wake him up. Verse 28. So they shouted louder and following their normal custom cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed down. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice. I love this statement.

But still there was no sound, no reply, no response. Isn't that amazing? That's how it is with false gods. You can never make them happy. You ever look at a tiki god? They're always angry.

Right? These false gods are not real. They're slashing themselves trying to appease these false gods. You know sometimes this can even enter into the Christian life where we get this weird idea about God that we have to do a bunch of stuff to earn His favor. I'll just make this sacrifice.

I'll slash myself. I'll do this other thing and then God will hear my prayer. God hears your prayers because you come to Him through Jesus Christ. That's it.

That's it. I have access to the throne of God through the blood that Christ shared. So when I'm doing well and I'm doing all the things that Christians ought to do God hears my prayer. When I fall short, when I fail, God still hears my prayer.

If I'll repent of my sin and come to Him and call on His name these gods could not hear them because these gods were not real. So I'm going to put a pause. Greg what about fire coming from heaven?

Next week. That's right. So we'll just pause the story at this moment and of course we'll see what the Lord did but here's the thing I want to close with and I touched on this already. God wants an exclusive relationship with you. Why would you settle for a cheap substitute? We chase after things this world offers that we're told will make us happy and they don't.

In fact they make us more miserable. What we're really longing for is a relationship with God Himself and He showed how serious He is about this relationship by sending His Son to suffer and die on a cross for your sins so you could be forgiven. So you could come into a relationship with Him. He not only promises you life beyond the grave and He does but He promises you life during life. Medical science can potentially add years to your life but only Christ can add life to your years. My wife Kathy just had the opportunity to lead her aunt to the Lord. She's 101 years old.

Amazing. You know you say that stats are pretty unlikely that she'll come to faith that much later in life but 101 years old. No one is beyond the reach of God and she prayed with her and her aunt prayed and Kathy told me that she said pray these words after me Lord Jesus come into my life forgive me of all of my sins and she said and my aunt prayed forgive me of all of my sins. So she wasn't just repeating it she was understanding it and so now she knows that her aunt is ready to meet the Lord. How wonderful that is. Isn't it?

I wonder if you know that right now. If you're sure your sin is forgiven. If you're certain you'll go to heaven when you die. If you have this relationship with Jesus have you been trying to live in two worlds? It's not working out really well is it?

It never does because you know you have too much of Christ to be happy in the world and too much of the world to be happy in Christ. You're living in a miserable no man's land of compromise and I strongly urge you to make a choice. Right? That's your if that's where you're at if you're living in two worlds if you're living two lives you're living the worst possible version of the Christian life.

The worst. So it's kind of all in or not in. What side are you on? Let's pray. Now Lord we want to be on your side. We want to follow Jesus and if there are any idols in our life Lord and we may not think there are but there may be would you show us what they are and help us to re-prioritize to put you at the forefront of our life again where we are more important to us than anything else. You're the one we get up for in the morning. You're the one we're fired up about. You're the one we want to talk about more than anything else. Lord we want you to be the Lord God of every area of our life and I pray now Lord for any that have joined us who may not know you.

They may not have a relationship with you. They don't have the hope of heaven. Let this be the moment they believe in Jesus. Now while our heads are bowed and we're praying if you want Christ to come into your life why don't you just pray a prayer similar to what my wife prayed with her and just say Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I am sorry for my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. No doubt the most important prayer anyone can pray. Pastor Greg Laurie leading many who want to make their hearts right with God today. If you've just prayed with Pastor Greg and have meant those words sincerely well first of all we want to welcome you into the family of God and we'd like to help you get started in your new relationship with the Lord. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's the perfect resource for those just getting started in their walk with the Lord.

It's in an easy to read translation and has scores of helps those who are new to the faith find valuable. It's the New Believers Bible and we'll send it without charge. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Hey everybody I'm here with my friend Max the Cato who has written a brand new book titled What Happens Next and it's on the end times. In fact Max you've described this as sort of a prophecy 101 book. Okay so let's do a lightning round.

Let me hit you with terms that we hear and why don't you just give us a quick definition of them. Okay I'll do my best. Here we go. We need some music Dave. Give us some lightning round music. Lightning round music. All right.

Okay here we go Max. What is the rapture? The rescue of the church prior to the great tribulation which we will meet the Lord in the air and will be taken into paradise.

Excellent answer. Okay you mentioned the tribulation. What is the great tribulation period? Seven years of difficulty and trial in which the restrainer which is the presence of the Holy Spirit working through the church is removed in which the Antichrist has his way.

But a great revival breaks out during the middle of the seven years in which many people return to Christ. And you mentioned Antichrist. Who is Antichrist? The Antichrist is the proxy of Satan. A person who does the bidding of the devil who creates and negotiates a peace treaty after the rapture because of the chaos of the rapture and negotiates a peace treaty with Israel and the other nations leading to what appears to be peace. But in the middle of that peace he positions himself in the temple which he is allowed to be reconstructed and demands to be worshipped. And then the result is anyone who doesn't worship him falls under persecution. So it'll be the most difficult.

Jesus said there has never been a time and never will be another time as difficult as those seven years. And Max deals with this and a whole lot more in his brand new book I'm Max Lucado and you're not. No that's not the title.

No the title of the book really is What Happens Next? Greg can I jump in here? Please. Can I jump in? Because as I've been listening to sermons I listened to one of yours on this topic and you told the greatest story. You don't know I'm about to prompt you on this but you and Kathy were having a bedtime discussion about the rapture and you were talking about what's it going to be like when all of a sudden we were taken up into the sky.

I don't want to be left behind. And without her knowing you rolled over out of bed and onto the floor. Is that right?

That's right. So we were newly married Max and we were laying in bed at night and we're having this discussion you know about the Lord coming back. Two will be in a bed one would be taken and the other left Jesus says and so as Kathy is talking about this I quietly crawled over and I'm laying on the floor and she said won't that be great Greg? Greg?

Greg! And she reaches and I'm not there and I was laughing and so I would just say to anyone listening don't try this at home I am a professional idiot. I'm a professional idiot and yes that's a true story. That is a great story.

Well Max Ocado has written a brand new book called What Happens Next about the end times events. It's understandable. It's unique. It's fresh.

It's deep. It's biblical and it's a book that is going to help you grow spiritually and we want to send it to you for your gift of any size. Whatever you send will be put to good use continuing this broadcast a new beginning and then we'll send you your copy of What Happens Next by Max Ocado.

Yeah that's right. So contact us today. You can call us anytime 24 7 at 1-800-821-3300 and thanks so much for your investment in the work that we do each day.

We're truly listener supported. Again dial 1-800-821-3300 or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or just go online to harvest.org. Well next time more insight from the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal from First Kings. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lord. Hey everybody thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner just go to harvest.org.