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Enough with the Idols! (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
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October 29, 2024 6:00 am

Enough with the Idols! (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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October 29, 2024 6:00 am

The Lord again laments Israel’s turning to dead idols and away from Him the Living God. Babylon’s false gods will not save them from the Lord’s servant Cyrus. God states it clearly “Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I […]

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We are living out what the prophet said.

We are the people he was talking about. This sets the precedence for great tribulation saints, converts, and us. So during the great tribulation, which hasn't happened yet, there are going to be people coming to Christ. They're going to be reading the revelation of Christ, seeing that, you know what, we're going to die for our faith. And the righteous Jews are going to say, well, we're not going to die. So we're going to make the most out of this. And we're not going to waste this protection. We're going to preach.

And that's what's going to happen. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now here's Pastor Rick in Isaiah chapter 45 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Verse 24, he shall say, surely in Yahweh, I have righteousness and strength to him. Men shall come and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him.

Well, that's a real application. He's talking about the Christ, but in the future, but in the present, Yahweh. There's a verse in Luke that I have often repeated to myself to help keep myself in check when I don't care for the methods of God. And everybody gets to a place where they don't really care how God is doing something.

We're submitted to it. He's God, but we wish he did a little differently. And you know, Paul to get to Rome, wouldn't it have been nice to just catch a direct flight and land in Rome, but no. So Jesus, knowing that life is just more complicated than he could explain to us, defaults to faith. And he says in Luke 7 23, blessed is he who is not offended because of me. It's a beatitude. The one that is in rhythm with me, no matter what, is the one that's going to be better off.

The one who gets out of rhythm with me is going to have a bumpier ride. So here, he shall say, surely in Yahweh I have righteousness and strength, verse 24, to him men shall come and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. Well, you know, as the title of that old play, your arms are too short to box with God.

You're going to lose. And that's, if you're incensed against him, listen, a bitter root goes a long way, causes a lot of problems, not only to others around that person who's so bitter, but to the person themselves. And so Paul writes about that in Hebrews saying that a bitter root has caused many to fall. Verse 25, in the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. Well, all those walking with the Lord, as we say in Christ, in Yahweh, always a remnant. God always has somebody that believes in him. We found Noah and his family, and then it was Enoch.

There's always a remnant. Romans 11, so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And so there's Paul saying, all Israel is going to be saved, and I'm going to back it up with what God promised, because I believe in the Bible. And that's why he references Isaiah.

We'll get to that later in latter chapters. Isaiah, chapter 46. Isaiah 46 has to do with God's determination to destroy Babylon, which is infested with idolatry. Some would call it the cradle of idolatry, of formalized idolatry. Isaiah 47 gets into the destruction, the fulfillment of God's plan to deal with Babylon. It was so bad, it was almost like God would be wrong if he didn't deal with Babylon, if you can express it that way without, you know, insulting God, which I certainly am not willing to do.

So one writer, one commentator said, Isaiah's polemic, that is his attack on the foolish doctrines of Babylon, or idolatry, Isaiah's polemic against foreign idols reaches a dramatic climax as he satirizes Babylonian gods, ridiculing the powerlessness of the man-made statues. Well, amen. I only did that quote.

I wanted to steal that dramatic climax. I like that line, but that would have been a little plagiaristic, so I had to read the whole thing. Anyhow, singling out a belief in another religion or practice in Christianity that is clearly forbidden by God, and I should say Christendom, not Christianity, whether it is Romanism or Islam, we say, hey, our scripture rebukes that, condemns that. That does not mean we're trying to pick a fight with the people per se, but it does mean we side with God, the God of the Bible, and if he condemns such behavior as we view it to be false, then we're going to stick to that point. Well, that has caused the deaths of many Christians.

That's what Christian martyrs are made out of, and today, it's, you know, if you get your right to have your beliefs, then I got my right to have mine, and we're living in, of course, a culture that is, you can't disagree with me. We'll destroy your character. We'll destroy your ability to make a living. We'll fire you.

Well, you know, we're going to have to learn how to deal with that. Not the first rodeo Christians have been on. I've never been to a rodeo, but I like that phrase. Anyhow, verse one, bells down, Nebo's stoops, their idols were on the beast and on the cattle.

Your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast. Well, he's now satirizing, he's lampooning, he's putting it in writing, these foreign religions, and, you know, Christians are getting, you know, why are you picking on them? Because they're wrong, and you are too, for coming to their defense.

You better choose what side you're on. The Levites said, we're over here with you and Yahweh, Moses, and God never forgot their allegiance to him. God wanted all his people to be Levites, or at least the office of the Levite, but they forfeited that, and the Levites, of course, it went to them. Long before what we know as Greek and then Roman theology, there was Mesopotamian mythology and theology.

Theology is the study of God, mythology, of course, is things that never happened, bottom line, belief in lies. In pagan thought, the gods inhabited the very idol. So when you made, you fashioned an idol out of some material, the god would then come live in that one. And, you know, the whole neighborhood had these statues and they believed this.

They believed they were inseparable. The New Testament, of course, we believe that God inhabits person, the living person, the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The body is a temple that houses the Holy Spirit. For the Jews, the presence of God was manifested in the Shekinah, and his presence was not guaranteed.

If they pushed him to the point of departure, he departed, and that Ezekiel talks about the Shekinah departing the temple because of the sins of the people. I don't know if there's another religion that owns their disobedience to their God and the punishment they received for it. They may blame somebody else, but the Jews, you know, when they suffered, it was because they had disobeyed their scripture and therefore their God. Well, Bel, another name for Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonians and their hierarchy of God, their totem poles, they said he was the creator. Well, of course, Isaiah is countering that, so no, Yahweh is the creator, and he scoffs at their myths.

Now, when I first started studying the Bible, I'd get the reference materials and I'd try to learn about these foreign gods, and I realized, what am I doing? These things are made up. I don't care.

I don't care what they thought. They're false. So, does it ever matter?

Yes, it does matter sometimes, and I'm glad we have those men and women who have put together reference material for us to look at these things when we need. And here's an example. When Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, they thought, after Paul healed a man, that they were the gods that had come down, Zeus and Hermes. They thought Paul was Hermes, and the reason why they thought Paul was Hermes is because Hermes was the messenger of the gods, and Paul was the one doing all the preaching.

So, in that case, you say, okay, I understand why they thought he was this and what's going on and showing the depth of their ignorance. Paul and Barnabas, you know, they could barely restrain the people from sacrificing to them, and then, in that same town, shortly after, they stoned Paul to death, and he shook it off. Walk it off, Paul.

Walk it off. So, anyway, I don't really care too much about, well, Bell was and Nebo was. It's all junk, but if it is pertinent, then, of course, we can reference material and find out who the people thought they were.

Anyway, it is a little bit important to understand Marduk was considered the creator in the literature that is still from those times. Either way, these two gods of theirs could not stop Assyria nor Cyrus from coming and conquering them, and where is Babylon now, the ancient city of Babylon? Well, it's more of a museum piece than anything. It's not a functioning city.

What's left of it? But the gods that the Babylonians worshiped were carried away with the people, when the people were carried away as prisoners, or they were looted. A combination of things happening over the centuries, but when they went into captivity, so did their gods, and so it says here their idols were on the beast and on the cattle. The animals were more alive than the idols, and a god that has to be carried is a god that can be carried away, and he's trying to appeal to people who are into this stuff. Remember, you know, as when we try to deal with people who are into the New Age movement, which I don't think gets too much publicity or attention these days, now we're in the narcissistic age, where people are just crazy out in the middle of the street doing selfies, and just for what?

Just for what? So anyway, I'm getting off course. The Philistines, when David began dealing with them, this is what we read in 2 Samuel, and they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away, pulverized them, did whatever they needed with the materials. Anyway, he says here in verse 1, your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast, and so again the animals were stuck hauling this dead weight.

There were so many of them, they just piled them on, or it could have just been a couple of made out of stone or something. Either way, he's saying that, you know, this is a silly picture. You're not being protected by these gods, but you're still trying to hold on to them. Well, what do you say to that? You know, Isaiah sets up the contrast between the dead passive idols that must be carried in Yahweh, of course, who carries his people. They weren't worthy of worship. Verse 2, they stooped, they bowed down together, they could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. The crouching, the stooping, and the bowing down are as, they're crouching as conquered prisoners. They're humiliated.

They could not deliver the burden. It's funny, when Israel, Judah, was finally conquered, the unbelievers said to the Jews, you are whooped because you didn't obey your god. Now, that does not mean that their theology was totally intact because they had that localized god thing. They believed that, you know, your god of Judah should have protected you in Judah, and our god Marduk protects us in Babylon. But it was, that element was, that part was true.

Where did they get that? Well, Jeremiah's writings were certainly circulated in Babylon, and so much so that the Jews accused him of being a conspirator with the Babylonians, which was never the case. Anyway, they could not deliver the burden. The idols could not help the animals carry them.

They themselves have gone into captivity. Idol can't lift a man to heaven, but it sure can drag him down to hell. And again, the idol does not have to be made of material.

It could be made up in the imagination. A person who says, I think God is, and just doesn't get it from anywhere, or gets it from somebody who didn't get it from anywhere, that's idolatry. You, all you young Christians, you should be able to define what is idolatry. It's man making his god, even in just a little bit.

It just takes a little pinch to ruin the whole thing. Faith knows about this conflict. Faith sees it, you know, this isn't between Jerusalem and Babylon. This is between hell and heaven, the fight over souls.

Much of this is fulfilled in waves, as I alluded to earlier, the Assyrians. Later, Jeremiah talks about the Moabite god, Chemosh, being taken away the same way. The ultimate fate of false worship is doom. Revelation 19, then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image.

Look at that, modern man is still at it. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Well, if you don't believe that, God's going to say, okay, then I'm not going to do it.

That's not going to happen, he's going to do it. Verse 10 of Revelation 20, the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever, without end. Now, this deception, we're going to come to that again in a little bit when we talk about the world being drunk and insane with idolatry. Verse 3, listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Look, there was enough evidence in Isaiah's day to walk back to Egypt and see that the Jews were there en masse, that there was this enormous population of Jews in Egypt. How'd they get out of there? There was enough evidence still that the Canaanites and the Philistines lived in the promised land. How did they get out of there?

How did this transplant take place? There was evidence, tangible evidence in those days, but it has not been preserved, which is no surprise. I mean, they've stripped the pyramids of their outer shell. The Muslims have gone out of their way to destroy any evidence of the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount or anywhere else they can corrupt it.

But it's too late. We have a record, and it's maintained, and we have it in the Jewish writings of the prophets, and we have it in the apostles and prophets of the New Testament. Notice I said prophets and apostles in writings because Luke was not, for example, an apostle of Jesus Christ, but he was a speaker.

God did speak through him, which makes him a prophet in that strict sense and proper sense of the word. And he was a Gentile. So, and he gives us the book of Luke, and he gives us the book of Acts.

I don't remember. That's, I don't know, 20 some percent of the New Testament or more. Anyway, verse three, where he says, Listen to me, O Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth. He's talking to the apostates and the faithful. Faithful need to hear these things too, that God carried his people in contrast to people carrying idols. Exodus 19, we read, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, it doesn't mean he had them on his wings because eagles don't do that, put their little chicks in their wings and fly them around.

That would be impressive. And if you've seen anything like that, I'd like to know about it. But I think the idea is, you know, you have this eagle, they're incredibly strong for how much they weigh. They can pick, pick up some pretty big things and fly away with them. One time I saw an eagle flying with a Yugo.

Oh, that would, he wouldn't do that. Anyway, the idea, of course, in a time when such large birds were everywhere, they would get the understanding that God had taken them up in his talons of love and carried them out of Egypt. And so Isaiah is going back to their roots.

Now, the remnant also applies to those not born yet, 100 and some 30 years away from this prophecy that are going to come back to Judah. And it's all documented now. It has happened as the, so accurate, of course, the naysayers, well, somebody, it's an interpolation.

Somebody came and wrote that on top of the story. No, how come you just can't accept it? Because you mean, because you know, then you have to be accountable and you do not want that. Do not want to be accountable to the God of Israel, who is the Christ, because you want to do your own thing. And that is idolatry.

This sets a precedence. So when Isaiah wrote this, future generations would read this and say, that's us. We are living out what the prophet said.

We are the people he was talking about. This sets the precedence for great tribulation saints, converts, and us. So during the great tribulation, which hasn't happened yet, they're going to be people coming to Christ. They're going to be reading the revelation of Christ, seeing that, you know what, we're going to die for our faith. And the righteous Jews are going to say, well, we're not going to die. And so we're going to make the most out of this. And we're not going to waste this protection. We're going to preach.

And that's what's going to happen. We can look at the scripture and see ourselves in it. One place, one of my favorites is Daniel 12. God said to Daniel, but you, Daniel, shut up the words. He doesn't just say, shut up, shut up the words. I would have translated that differently. And seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.

This is emphatic. This isn't just people traveling on carts. This would include, looking back at that now, we can see this is air travel. At any time, they're probably, I think what's the number, 300,000 people in the sky. That number might be a little bit lower. I know it's higher than 60,000, but if you count all the planes that are in, just get the plane app. I don't know what it's called. I have it on my phone. I like to look at that.

And the shipping one too is pretty much fun. Look at all the places I don't want to go to. Anyway, you can see, man, there's a lot of stuff on the sea and in the air. Well, Daniel says, and knowledge shall increase. Now you tell me, for how many centuries have human beings been relatively the same before real indoor plumbing, HVAC?

I mean, the modernization has just left most of history behind. And you can go online and there's so many experts. You can find 10 people that are experts on pencil erasers.

None of them agreeing with themselves. All of them with data. And you just say, man, there's too much information for humans to process.

Do one on dieting. Oh, man, it's just, you end up saying, well, I know this about food, that a napkin does a pretty good job. Other than that, it's a free for all.

This one hates that one. Well, knowledge has increased. But will you know what to do with this knowledge?

That's the catch. And so the humble fisherman just said, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given us the aptitude to do many things. Whatever that aptitude you have discovered that you have, you work it to the glory of God. Some are very good in mathematics. Others are good in athletics. Whatever it is, some are just physically strong.

Some are just very creative. Whatever it is, you find out what it is a Christian. You outdo as many people in the workplace as you can without getting in the flesh.

You just do such a good job. And you let the Lord use that witness to lead people to Christ. Look, if you're, I don't know, if you're stacking boxes and you're the worst box stacker in the warehouse, nobody's going to be interested in your savior. But if you're like, man, that guy's dependable.

He may not be the best, but he's dependable. That's going to help your witness. And that will, God can use that kind of stuff. But anyway, we saw the precedents there. God saying to the Jews, you're going to benefit from my words when you're being brought back from the captivity in Babylon and which they did.

They read these things and say, hey, that's us. And the temple was rebuilt. Verse four, even to your old age, I am he. And even to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear.

Even I will carry and will deliver you. So Isaiah continues to harass the pseudo brilliance of idolatry. Deservedly, he's lampooning man's quest to be the God maker. And he's using these words that the true God is doing, which the false gods cannot do.

Carry, made, bear, deliver. Yahweh does that. Their gods do not.

We'll contrast this a little bit more. Without exception, every false religion, every manmade religion, which what makes a false religion? It's manmade. It's not from the revelation of God. It's from the imagination of men. It's speculation or revelation.

Which one are you going to pick? Well, each one of them, they're blind, drunk, cripple and crazy. Well, let's look at that. And don't let someone give you that. Well, why can't others be right too? For the same reason, wheels are round, not square or rectangular. It doesn't work. That's why.

That's why they can't be in the club. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new additions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-10-29 08:41:04 / 2024-10-29 08:50:47 / 10

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