The Outrage of Idolatry

When you go out and you worship in a false system of religion, or you sit around and be a part of it, you are actually in a communion situation being identified with the worshippers and the worship one who is a demon.

When you go out and do what the rest of the world does, when you participate in the rest of the world's activities, you are communing with demons. That's Paul's whole point here. You hear a lot of talk these days about identity, gender identity specifically. Some have decided that what it means to be male and what it means to be female are open for debate. But does a debate like that apply to what it is to be a Christian?

In other words, do you decide what it looks like to follow Christ, or is your spiritual identity fixed and unchanging? John MacArthur is going to answer that question today on Grace to You. He's continuing his series called Pitfalls of Christian Liberty, with a lesson that explains why your decisions should be less about what you want and more about your identity in Christ.

So here now is John MacArthur. Now we're looking at chapter 10 verses 14 to 22 under the subject, the truth about idolatry. The subject of idolatry has arisen in 1 Corinthians because of the fact that some of the Corinthian Christians in the name of Christian liberty, in the name of their so-called freedom in Christ, were attending idolatrous activities.

And Paul writes to that very issue here in 1 Corinthians, and his word to them in verse 14 is very clear. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. In the name of Christian liberty, don't pursue idolatry. It's one thing perhaps to eat a piece of meat that you bought in a butcher shop, meat that at one point might have been offered to an idol. It's one thing to go to somebody's house for dinner and eat something that they give you that may have personally and privately been dedicated to an idol. But it's something else to push that to the point where you're attending idol festivals, idol celebrations, pagan feasts, and so forth. And that then becomes the theme of what he's saying in 14 to 22.

Why a believer should avoid the idolatry of the world, if you will. Now, as a basis of his argument to make his point here, he uses the Lord's Supper. Let's look first of all at 16, the cup of blessing.

What is a cup of blessing? Verse 16 again. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? So, taking the cup, which Jesus blessed, and in turn blessing it, setting it apart for sacred use, and then participating in it is an act of communion with the death of Christ.

Now let's go a step further. Verse 16. The bread, or literally the loaf, to correspond more with cup, the loaf which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Now note, when we commune with the bread, it is the body of Christ. And the breaking of it has no symbolic connection to the cross. People say the Lord's body was broken on the cross.

It was not broken. The Bible makes a specific point of that. In John 19, 36 it says, And not a bone of Him was broken that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The only reason that Jesus took the loaf and broke it was to give everybody a piece of the same loaf.

Do you see? We are all partakers of one bread who is Christ, and it has to be broken to be passed out to us. The symbolism is only that in distribution, not in death.

His body was never broken. So, what do we have then? Let me summarize this thought. Hang on.

The breaking refers only to the distribution of the one loaf. It relates to the fact that all believers share in that one life. We not only commune, beloved, we not only commune with Christ's death, we commune with His life. Paul said in Philippians 3 10, I want to know Him, the power of His resurrection. That's related to His death. And the fellowship of His what? Suffering.

That's related to His life. Being made conformable to His death. Paul says, I want to be able to suffer for Him. I want to be able to have the humanity of Jesus as it were relived in me. I want to bear the marks of Jesus in this body. I want to fill up in my body the sufferings that are meant for Jesus Christ. I want to commune with His humanness. I want to commune with His suffering. I want to be persecuted for righteousness sake as He was persecuted for righteousness sake.

I want to be able to go to Him and find in Him a sympathetic high priest who knows everything that I suffer because He suffered it Himself. So, when you come to the table of the Lord, beloved, the bread represents the humanity of Jesus. It represents His humiliation. It represents His humanness. His human suffering as a man for us. Something we definitely commune in.

Something we definitely relate to. As He is our sympathetic high priest and we carry our cares to Him knowing He's been there and He knows. And the cup represents His violent death for the forgiveness of sin. Something we also commune with. We also are actualized into being identified in His death for sin.

So, we are literally communing with Him in that cup. Now, I want you to see something. When we take those things, they're not just symbols. There is an actual communion that occurs.

Let me show you what I mean. There is confusion about that and there are different views of how that works. The word koinonia, their communion in verse 16, is the word to participate. The verb means to share or to partake of or to participate or to be a partner in.

The noun koinonia means participation, partnership, fellowship, communion. As a Christian, we literally participate in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 says we participate with the Son. 2 Corinthians 13, we participate with the Spirit. Philippians 2, 1, we participate in the ministry. 2 Corinthians 8, 4, we participate in the Gospel. Philippians 3, we participate in suffering. We are fellowshipping all the time with Christ.

Sharing Him, His Spirit, His ministry, His Gospel, His sufferings. And when we come to the table, we participate in His death. We are sharing the benefits of His death.

That's what it means. We are sharing in the meaning of His death. The purpose of it, the point of it. So it's more than just remembering.

It's sharing, fellowshipping, participating, partaking, communing. You come to that and you look at the cup and you look at the bread. And they aren't just a cup and bread.

They aren't even just symbols. All of a sudden Christ is alive. All of a sudden you are sensitized. And the reality of Christ is actualized in your mind and you see His cross. And you see your union with Him. And you see His body and you see it given on your behalf. And you see the fact that He lived and He suffered and He's a sympathetic high priest.

All of that is actualized. It's like reading the Bible. You can spend your day just, Christ is with you, where two or three are gathered. If you may have been with Christians, He was there actively. But He's there anyway in your life. And all day long you kind of go along and He's there and He's there.

But you really aren't aware of it. And then in the evening you sit down and you open the Bible and you begin to read. And what happens?

Hebrews 4-12 says the Word of God is what? Alive. And all of a sudden you pick up the pages and things begin to come alive. And Christ becomes real to you and He's actualized. And your mind is sensitized in an intense kind of way. In an intense kind of way Christ becomes very real. And your consciousness is made aware of the fact that He's there. Where He's been there all the time but you weren't really sensitized to that.

Or maybe you came home and you had been busy with the things of the world. And you got down and you sat in a chair and you began to pray and you talked to the Lord. And all of a sudden the Lord had been there all the time and became very, very real to you.

And you were very, very aware. Well that is exactly what the communion does. It is not just a symbol but it is to see a symbol and have your mind sensitized to an actuality that He's alive and He's there. And He lived for you and He carried His cares through this world that He might carry years later. And He died on the cross for your sins that you might not have to bear the penalty. And all of the things about Christ that are always true all the time become sensitively brought to your mind in the communion. That's the meaning.

Now watch. All of that I'm telling you to give you an understanding of this whole passage and the rest is just going to run right down. He's saying, look people. When you come to the Lord's table you are communing with Christ. You are actively involved in a partaking of all that He is and all that He has done. You are fellowshipping, participating in His reality.

That's what that service means. And when you go over to an idol festival and you eat that idol offering of drink and meat and you fellowship with those idol worshipers, you are in a sense identifying with that idol whether you like it or not. So at one point you are communing with Christ and at the next turn you're communing with idols and that is hopelessly inconsistent.

What he's saying is drawing this. He is saying a religious service, a religious feast constitutes communion with the one being worshipped. If it's Christ it's communion with Him. If it's an idol it's communion with Him. You can't do both. Inconsistent. Verse 17.

He goes further. This is best translated by the New American. Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body for we all partake of that one bread. There's only one bread and it's Christ. And so everybody who partakes of that one bread is one with everybody else. And this is the second great point of communion. We are all one body. We all partake of one loaf. We are all joined to Christ so we are inseparably joined to each other. Now watch. Everybody who comes to the Lord's table, now watch this, not only enters into communion with Christ, but he enters into communion with everybody else who is also at the Lord's table.

You see what he's saying? We all come to that one bread. We all partake of that one bread. So we all constitute one body. Communion then means we are actually communing with Christ and actually communing with everybody else who's there. In a religious festival, in a religious feast, the worshiper, the worshippers, and the one being worshipped are all one. Now when you go on an idol feast, you may say, I'm not going to get involved. If you take place, you are a worshiper involved with worshippers involved with the one being worshipped.

Whatever your intention might be. That's his point. And he uses an illustration from Israel. Verse 18. Behold Israel after the flesh. Are not they who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

Look at the history of Israel. The altar there refers to God. When they came to their sacrifices, didn't they all partake? Didn't they give some of the food to the priest, partake of some of it? Some of it was burned up by God, took to God. So part of the sacrifice went to God, part of it went to the priest, and the other worshippers were involved as well.

Part of it was kept. There was an involvement. Israel was involved in sacrificing. They were involved with each other and they were involved with God.

So what is he saying then? Participation in religious rites has deep spiritual meaning. It implies a real union between the worshippers and the one being worshipped.

That's what he's saying. So you can't do this with idols without having that reality take place. Israel brought sacrifices, a portion of which were consumed by the priest, a portion of which were burned on the altar. The rest were divided between the priest and the worshipping Jew. And there was a communion between the Jew, the priest, and God as they partook of the altar.

Now that's Paul's point. Worship is identification. Communion with whoever is being worshipped. So if you're going to be like Israel in verse 18, Communion with the altar for the Jews met fellowship with God and everybody else at the altar. Communion with Christ at the Lord's Supper for the Christian means fellowship with Christ and everybody else at his table. Communion with the feast of an idol means fellowship with that idol and everybody else who's there too.

Now listen Christian, this comes right down to our living. We can't participate in idol feasts, any of the idolatrous, godless, Christless activities of our world without becoming identified with them, without becoming one with all the rest of the people that are doing it. Well, you know, I don't do what the world does.

I've been attending some of the wild social deals around and I just kind of stay back. You are one with what's going on. You have identified in that kind of communion with the system. That's his point.

You have liberty, but if your liberty takes you out to the places where the world is communing with its own system which is run by Satan, then you're a part of that whole fellowship and that is hopelessly inconsistent. Can't do it. It's just inconsistent. It doesn't make sense. That's his first point.

Second point. Idolatry is not only inconsistent, it's demonic. Look at verse 19.

And this really is easy to see. What say I then? That the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?

And the answer is no. Am I saying that that idol is a true God? That there really is a God there or that some sacrifice offered to him is anything? No, I'm not saying that. In chapter 8 he said the opposite. In chapter 8, 4 he says an idol is nothing.

In chapter 8, 8 he says and the food offered to an idol is nothing. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that when you go to commune with that idol you're really communing with another God. No, you're not. I'm not saying that you're really involved in the worship of another God.

I've got to cover my tracks here, Paul is saying. I don't want you to be confused. I don't believe in other gods and that's not what I'm saying. But I still say a real communion exists. You say, Paul, how could a real communion exist if there isn't a real God there, if it's just a rock and there's nobody there? How could it be a real communion?

Verse 20. But I say that the things which the heathen sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and to a no God. It's not a God. It's a no God, but a demon will be there and I don't want you to have fellowship with demons. Now here's what happens. People worship an idol.

And we've showed you this before. And there is no God there. But if a person wants to believe there's a God there, you know what Satan will do? He'll send one of his demons to impersonate the God that the people think is there and that demon will do enough supernatural works to keep the people worshipping that idol.

I've said this to you many times. Why do you think somebody in some other society will bow down to a rock all his life? Because the demon will impersonate the God he thinks is in the rock and do enough stuff to keep the guy believing the rock is real. Why do you think people follow astrology? Because demons make enough of that stuff come true to hook those people.

Why do you think people stay in false systems of religion year after year after year and can't ever see the light? Because they have seen supernatural revelations in those systems. Not because there is a God there. There is a no God there, but a demon will impersonate him.

That's what he's saying. What constitutes actually a demonic communion is really taking place. When you go out and you worship in a false system of religion or you sit around and be a part of it, you are actually in a communion situation being identified with the worshippers and the worshiped one who is a demon. When you go out and do what the rest of the world does, when you participate in the rest of the world's activities, you are communing with demons.

That's Paul's whole point here. It's demonic. Because Satan is the prince of this world and because he rules in this world by the use of his demons, his demons move around and impersonate all the religious systems of the world. His demons fill and maintain all of the evil systems of this world. No matter what you get into, you are communing with them. You can't avoid it.

So seriously. In Psalm 96 5, the Greek translation of that verse is this. All the gods of the heathen are demons.

That's the Septuagint, the Greek. All the gods of the nations or all the gods of the heathen are demons. If they worship a false god, a demon will impersonate it.

Deuteronomy 32 17 and Psalm 106 37 say the same thing. They sacrifice to demons. So they are fellowshipping with demons. So here you have a Christian.

He's over here and he's communing with the Lord and he's got the cup and the bread. Then he turns around and goes to an idol feast. And as soon as he enters that idol feast and participates, he becomes a communer with demons.

A communer with demons. Paul says, I don't want you, verse 20, to have fellowship in communion with demons. That's ridiculous.

That is unbelievable. Verse 21, you cannot, and that is not the cannot of impossibility. That is the cannot of inconsistency. You cannot be consistent and drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of demons. Why should a Christian avoid the things of the world? Why should a Christian come out from among them and be separate and never touch the unclean thing? Why should a Christian avoid the fashion of the world and the festivals of the world and the evil systems of the world, whether they're moral or religious? Because a Christian cannot commune with demons, turn around and commune with Christ and maintain any kind of consistency.

That's clear. All idolatry, in every form, whether it's libel against God's character, whether it's the worship of an image, or whether it's covetousness, lust, or idols in the heart, all of it is demonic. People say, do you think demons bother Christians?

Yeah, I sure do. When Christians put themselves in a place to get it, stay away. There's only two times in the New Testament that I can see where a Christian really got messed up by demons. One was when Ananias and Sapphira willfully sinned against the Holy Spirit and did it without confessing or turning from it. They just opened themselves up and Satan came in.

And the other is right here where Christians hang around the things of the world, the systems of the world, so that they wind up communing with demons. That's problems. You can't do it, he says in verse 21. It is the can't of spiritual inconsistency. Oh, you can do it. It's not impossible.

It's just inconsistent. And it's going to bring about a terrible, terrible result. This may help you to understand why John says, if anybody comes to your house, 2 John, and teaches any other doctrine than this, don't bid him good speed and don't let him in your house. Or you will become a what? Partaker, there's the word again, communer, with his evil deed. As soon as you let that guy in your house with that false truth, you have communed with him again. There is a spiritual connection made.

Put him out. You see, there is that tremendous truth that we must maintain separateness in order that our communion might be holy and purely identifying with Jesus Christ and not with demons. You say, well, I don't see that that's that big of an issue. I can commune with Christ over here and a few of those things I can enjoy.

It's not going to make that much difference. Oh, verse 22 gives us the third reason not to hang around idols. And that is, it is offensive to the Lord. Are you ready for this? Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

Are we stronger than he? Listen, I've communed with Christ. What would I do with that?

Why would I want to have any part of it? But his third argument is it's offensive to the Lord. And this is what he says. Do you provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are you stronger than he? You know what I've learned in my life? Only make enemies of people weaker than you.

You ever learn that? Don't make enemies out of people who can handle you. The only way that I would ever want to make God jealous and get him upset at me would be if I was tougher than he is. So you know what? I don't ever do anything to get him irritated at me.

That's what he's saying. Do you want to make the Lord jealous? And in Deuteronomy 32 21 he said, They have stirred me to jealousy with what is a no God.

They have provoked me with their idols. If you want to stir God to jealousy, then you better be stronger than he is or you won't be able to handle him because he deals very strongly with idolatry. All you've got to do is read the Bible about that. You just read Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 16, Deuteronomy 17, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 44. Just read Revelation chapter 14, chapter 21, chapter 22. There are inferences in all of those places about the vengeance of God against idols and idol worshippers. The only way you'll ever want to provoke God to jealousy is if you're stronger than he is. It's offensive to the Lord. He judges idol worshippers and you won't escape.

No one ever has. It's a dangerous place to be. Remember the scripture, beloved. If you're a Christian, don't worship idols. Some of the Corinthians apparently because they had been doing this, the idols of the world hanging around communing with those demons, wound up sick and dead. The Lord just actually chastised them. In some cases he took their lives. And what about an unbeliever? He says again and again in the Bible, those who are idolatrous will have no part in his kingdom. We're free in Christ, beloved. That's true.

You are I am. But we have to keep two things in mind. How will my freedom affect others? I don't want to do anything that will offend them.

How will my freedom affect me? I don't want to do anything in my liberty that's going to expose me to idolatry and Satan's system and catch me in sin. And then the chastisement of God. And so I would say to you what John the Beloved said, little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your love, for your grace and your mercy, and your concern about us. The same time that we see all of those things, Father, and they're so manifest as we share in your table and your cup. And even as we read your word, know your truth, we recognize these truths. But Father, we also know that you're a God of vengeance, you're a God of judgment, you're a God who chastens, you're a God who will deal with those who are idolatrous. Help us to have no other gods before you. Help us to worship nowhere but at your feet. Help us to commune only with Christ and with the believers in the brotherhood, never with any other spirit, any other worshippers. May we realize that we're to run from anything that even borders on idolatry because it is inconsistent, demonic, and offensive to you. Give us the sense as you, through your apostle Paul, instructed the Corinthians to judge what Paul has said as intelligent people to make a commitment and a decision about this. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Along with teaching each day on radio, John also serves as chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. The focus of his study today, Pitfalls of Christian Liberty. Well, John, after spending the last two weeks looking at 1 Corinthians 10, it seems this issue of Christian liberty is more about serving others than it is about exercising our own freedom.

Is that a fair summary? That is exactly right. Christian liberty is more about serving others than it is exercising our own freedom. But isn't that the Christian life? Isn't the Christian life more about serving others totally?

Isn't Jesus the example that came not to be ministered to, but to minister, came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many? This is Christianity. Christianity is setting aside my own freedom, setting aside my own desires, wants, priorities, liberties, if need be, setting aside anything and everything for the sake of love, for the sake of not offending, for the sake of building up another, for the sake of setting the highest example. You know, when people flaunt their freedom, that is just, that is just lack of love. And lack of love indicates the presence of dominating pride. To say it another way, only humble people love. And only people who love set aside their liberties for the sake of others. It goes back to humility. And if you're proud, that is the sin that God hates. God gives grace to the humble. If you start with humility, you end up loving. If you end up loving, you end up sacrificing anything for the service of others. So we've had a wonderful time in this study, The Pitfalls of Christian Liberty.

I would love for you to have this series for yourself. You can download the messages on the Grace To You website, gty.org, or you can get The Pitfalls of Christian Liberty on a five-CD album. These are important things as we live out our Christian lives in the body of Christ. Get your copy today either on CD or download it from the website.

That's right, friend. If you want to know how to exercise Christian liberty in a humble, loving, Christ-exalting way, let me encourage you to pick up a copy of John's series, Pitfalls of Christian Liberty, or his classic book titled The Vanishing Conscience. Get in touch with us today. The Vanishing Conscience book is a great complement to John's Pitfalls of Christian Liberty audio study. The book outlines a practical strategy for fighting sin and pursuing holiness and enjoying a clean conscience.

To order, call our customer service line at 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. And when you visit gty.org, make sure to take advantage of the thousands of free resources available there. You can read daily devotionals, watch episodes of Grace To You television, or download more than 3,500 of John's sermons.

To tap into those free Bible study aids and download John's current study, Pitfalls of Christian Liberty, visit gty.org. Also, friend, let me encourage you to follow us on social media. We regularly post about John's newest books, upcoming series, and the latest Grace To You news. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Now for John MacArthur and the entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thank you for making this broadcast part of your day, and join us tomorrow when John looks at how you can stand for the truth in a society that's actively fighting against it. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace To You.