Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. It's in the nature of man to worship something, even deities made of wood and stone. But God makes it clear that he will not tolerate any idols. Today, why the first commandment requires that nothing replaces God in our allegiance. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr.
Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, our media wants us to revere American idol and other show business personalities. Does this qualify as idolatry in the biblical sense? Dave, it's even more serious than that. The simple fact is all of us have idols in our hearts.
As Calvin said, our hearts are an idle factory it is so easy for us to give our affections elsewhere.
So I always ask people, you know, where is it that your mind goes when you have some spare time? Where does God fit into our mind and into our hearts? And when we speak about idolatry, we have to recognize that God will tolerate no rival. And I want to thank the many people who support this ministry. At the end of this message I'm going to be giving you some contact info.
I want you to pray about the possibility of becoming what we call an endurance partner. That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. But for now, let us listen. Yeah. Mm.
Julian Huxley, for example, made this astounding statement. He said, The reason that we accepted Darwinism without a lot of proof is because we did not want God to interfere with our sexual mores.
Well that's interesting.
So that's why Darwinism was accepted without a whole lot of proof. In other words, at root, man was saying, I will not have the Lord God to rule over me.
Now, in the history of the Jewish nation, you know they were so prone to idolatry, always turning to whatever God they happened to be with, and whatever pagan God was there. Because there's something within man that says, I want a God who I can control, and at least He is in harmony with some of my aspirations and desires. As for the true God, we are not sure. about him. There's an amazing passage in the first chapter of Habakkuk.
It says that the wicked Chaldeans go out and they take a net and they catch fish. Actually, it's referring to the armies of other nations. But then it says that they burn incense to their nets. You see, that's the way man is. Instead of giving the glory to God who gave you the ability to create the net, or thanking God for the fish that you are able to catch, it is just like man to stop short of giving glory to God and even burn incense to his own nets.
And so you have people today who are willing to thank the sweat of their own right hand. They are willing to thank the government. They are willing to thank their parents. They are willing to thank their employer. They are willing to thank anybody except God from whom all blessings flow.
It's the nature of man to be in rebellion against God. There's a third reason why God gave this command, and that is the nature of idolatry. The nature of God, He is exclusive. There is none other like Him. The nature of man, He is in rebellion, seeking idols.
But what is the nature of idolatry? The nature of idolatry is always to debase. First of all, idolatry is a tremendous insult to God. Turn in your Bibles to the 115th Psalm for just a moment. Psalm 115.
Here's a discussion of idols and what they are like. And can you think of how insulting it is to God? For people, To pray to idols? It begins in Psalm 115 by talking about the true God in verse 3. Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases.
But now, notice what it says about the idols. Speaking of the heathen, their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. Baal didn't see us that day, by the way.
He didn't say hi. He didn't say, well, greet all the folks in Chicago. It says, They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses. Obviously, they need a nose, but they can't smell.
They have hands, but they can't feel. They have feet, but they can't walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat. And those who make them will become like them. Can you imagine the insult it was to God to have Israel running around worshiping these kinds of idols, turning away from the true God?
Notice what God says in chapter 20 of the book of Exodus. He says, I am the Lord God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. And the Lord says, I'm the one that did all that. And then the people turn around and give credit. to a god that can't see, speak, smell, walk or act.
What an insult But you know there's something about idolatry that's even worse than that. It is not only insulting to God, it always ensnares. Men. It always ensnares men, and I'll tell you why. Because there's no such thing as a God.
that does not demand a sacrifice. There's no such thing as a God that does not demand sacrifice. You find that when the Israelites worshipped Baal and Moloch and all these other gods, they ended up doing all sorts of sacrificial things. It says in the book of Kings that the Israelites caused their children to walk through the fire in admiration and in devotion to Moloch and to Baal. Because even when you serve a false God, that God will demand obedience and sacrifice, and He will always ensnare, He will always degrade, He will always drive.
Well, now let's talk for a few moments about some of our gods. Remember that Any god That is put in your mind and heart above the living and the true God is an idol. It doesn't have to be made out of wood and stone.
So let's choose some of the gods of today's society just for a moment. Let's take sensuality. as a god. Sexual looseness as we have it in our society. There are some people who say, I will elevate that above God because I will violate what God has said in order to fulfill certain desires.
That is my God. That stands in competition to the living and the true God. I defy the true God. God says one thing, but I'm going to do another.
Okay, that's idolatry. But have you ever thought of the sacrifice that that God asks people to make. That God will immediately take people and make them liars. I have yet to know someone who is into sensuality who is not also a liar. He will take and he will degrade their character, he will degrade their reputation, and then, on top of that, he will demand whenever he can the sacrifice of human beings.
And we see that today in the great abortion movement, where people are saying we will hang on to sexual looseness at any cost, and we will kill children in order to mop up our sins. Because we will serve the God of sensuality no matter the cost. No matter the sacrifice. You take, for example, the God of money. What a deceptive God that is.
People say, I will serve that God, I will hold on to that God, and you find that that God begins to erode character, he begins to convert. Cause people to trample on one another and to hurt one another and to ignore other more essential needs because the God of money comes not just to participate with us in life, but He always comes to take over. Every God you serve desires domination. Pride. The other god I'll serve myself.
I'll do my own thing. I'll find my own way. I will hang on to my own rights. And you find out that you are driven by all kinds of forces within you and all kinds of unhappiness and anxiety and frustration and problems. And your selfishness will get in the way of other people and you become insensitive.
Why? Because you say, I will serve that God. And he will demand, and he will want to take over and control and dominate. Every God wants to.
So the Lord says, Thou shalt have no other God before me. You shall have nothing that you shall elevate above me in your thinking, or your imagination, or your allegiance. You shall have no other God before me. Let me summarize all this in three statements that are connected to one another. that logically follow one another.
Here are the three statements. Statement number one. Every person has a God. Every person has a God. Everyone.
You say, well, Pastor, I'm not sure about that, but I'm not sure that I have a God. Let me. help you do a little research to find out. Who your God is, okay? Very simple.
Little test, here it is. First of all, what is it that you think about Most often, in your free time, that's test number one. Test number two is: who do you really wish to please in life? That's it.
Well, isn't that simple? It's harmless. But you answer those two questions, and you will find out who your God really is. And you'll soon find out whether or not there is something in your life, whether it's your job or whether it's another person or whether it is earning money or whether it is your future or whatever. You'll find out whether or not you have elevated something above the living and the true God.
Every person has a God. No question about that. And it's what we think about, and whom we wish to please, whether ourselves or others. That is our God. Every person has a God.
That's statement number one. Statement number two. Every god demands allegiance. Every God demands allegiance. That's true of the living and the true God, as well as all the false gods that people chase around in today's world.
Every single God comes to take over. There's no such thing as a God saying, I will participate with you in the process of running your life. Every God comes to say, I will dominate, I will come to control. And then the third statement. That Every domination.
means Slavery Means slavery. That's true of the true God, it's also true of the false gods. For example, the Apostle Paul says in Romans, he said that he is a slave to God. He says, I am a bondslave of Jesus Christ.
So he is a slave too. I am a slave too. You are a slave too. The question is not whether or not you will be a slave because you are. The question is, whose slave will you be?
Because every God is expecting domination and control. I want you to know this. That there is a world of difference, an absolute light years in difference between. Being a slave of the living and the true God. And being a slave to an idol.
Because when you are a slave to an idol, you become the slave. of sin. Always, inevitably, necessarily, it must be so. And when you are a slave to the living and the true God, you serve, yes, but you do not serve under the domination of sin. You serve in willing obedience to God who has captured you and mastered you because He has given His life for you.
And the difference is overwhelming. Let me illustrate it to you. You know what the Bible says in Romans 1. I won't ask you to turn to it, but I'm going to quote it for you. I'm going to begin in verse 21.
When speaking of the heathen, it says, Who, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, to birds, to four footed beasts, and to creeping things. Or you have the idolatry. It says, Wherefore God also gave them over to dishonor their own bodies among themselves.
In other words, if you're going to serve an idol, you're going to be a slave to sin and sensuality. And then it says in verse 25, who exchanged the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. And in verse 26 it says again, and therefore God gave them over to degrading passions. And then, lest we should miss it, in the middle of verse 28, it says it again, God gave them over. And then follows just an ugly, unbelievable catalogue of sins.
It's one of the longest list. of sins in all the Bible and it covers the waterfront, believe me.
Now here's the point. When man abandons the living and the true God and begins to create idols either in the imagination or of wood and stone, and he exalts something above God, he always ends up in slavery, debauchery, and he becomes subservient to another God who drives and who pushes him and shoves him and controls him. And the only way out of that slavery is to turn to the living and the true God. You know, if we may put this commandment positively, We find that Jesus said in the New Testament, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. With all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
And the bottom line of what I want to say to you today is simply this. that God desires that there be within us A love for him. that has no competition. He wants to ask us that we might take down every idol, everything that we have exalted above him, and that we might in the sanctuary, in the shrine of our hearts, have a place only for him and love him supremely without any rivalry at all. All of us know that If there's anything that causes unfulfillment in a wife, that is when she lives with a husband whose attention and whose loyalty is divided and in whose heart there is rivalry.
God feels that too, by the way. Thou shalt love him With all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. With all thy strength.
Now I have to ask you: what is standing in the way in your life? that prevents you from loving God that way. Whatever it is. It's an idol. that must be forsaken.
Let's pray together. Our Father, today we thank you. That your word is so clear, thou shalt have no other gods. before me. We confess idolatry, Father.
We confess that to be a part of our experience. exalting imaginations and desires and ways above what you have said. Oh, Father, today we pray that you might help us to just clean out our lives. There may be some people bowed in your presence whose whole lives are filled with idols. We pray that you might help us to cast those out.
And we ask you to do that. In the name of Jesus our Savior. O Father, we pray that you might enable us to love you with a pure, undivided attention, body, soul, and spirit. To love you with our hearts and minds and souls. Teach us, Father, to do that.
We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Oh no. My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. I'd like to have a word with you. We're living in an age of distraction.
And these distractions oftentimes lead us astray. Perhaps the distractions that come through the cell phone, that come through our use of media. The blizzard of information that we are constantly being bombarded with. I trust that there are times in your life When you give silence, and contemplation to God alone. We here at Running to Win are greatly encouraged.
You know I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone listening in the Arabic language.
Now you may ask the question, why Arabic?
Well, thanks to people just like you, Running to Win is now in fifty different countries in seven different languages. But this person says, For years I lived under the shadow of shame. And I'm summarizing what they have said. As they continued to listen to Running to Win, they were introduced to a biblical concept of grace. And one of the lines says, I have been viewing my life through the lens of guilt, but now I see it through grace.
Running to win, yes, is in the Arabic language all throughout the Middle East. Thank you so much. Would you consider helping us as we get the gospel to millions of people? Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy.
An endurance partner is someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Here's what you do. Right now, you can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com and when you're there you click on the endurance partner button. help us to reach even more people with the wonderful gospel of God's grace.
RTWFer dot com, the Endurance Partner button, or you can call us right now at 1-888-218-128. ninety three thirty seven. Thanks in advance for helping us. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. we know that God expects us to keep our promises.
A listener named Greg is concerned about one promise made in the Bible that he fears led to murder. He says, I heard a sermon by Pastor Lutzer concerning oaths. He mentioned Jephthah, a great warrior, who made a horrible oath to God, saying he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house. Unfortunately, it was his daughter. My question is, since he sacrificed his daughter, why would he be listed among the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11?
I'm so thankful for this question because it helps us bring out something about God's grace. But first of all, let me talk to you about Jephah's vow. You know, if you're new to the Bible, you may not know that there is this amazing story in the eleventh chapter of the book of Judges. Jephthah is fighting battles and he tells the Lord that whatever comes out of his house he will sacrifice. And so as he's going toward the house, having won a victory, his daughter comes out of the house.
and the Scripture tells us that he sent her away for two months she departed and at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow. Scholars are actually divided over what happened.
Some people believe that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter. It talks about her being a virgin and the virgins of Israel mourning her, etcetera. etcetera.
So some people think that he just consigned her to virginity for the rest of her life. But there are others, and I happen to fall into this camp myself who believe that in point of fact he did sacrifice his daughter. What a terrible thing. The story has much mystery to it. Why would he say whatever comes out of his house he will sacrifice?
What was he expecting to come out of his house? A pig? we would expect that it would be his daughter.
Now here's the bottom line. Despite what happened, Jephthah is mentioned in Hebrews chapter eleven for this reason God uses imperfect people. It is truly amazing it's not just Jephthah who made the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. But also Samson, who and we know all about his sin. The point is that these men and women that are listed there in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
all put their confidence and faith in Jehovah. they believed God, it was credited to them for righteousness, They are all, I believe, saved people. But my are they imperfect So the bottom line is we can derive strength from the fact that uh God uses people like us.
sometimes with flaws that are visible, sometimes with flaws that are invisible, But the hand of God is there none the less.
So I would simply say that, Gregg great question. Just be encouraged. and know that God's grace can cover even great sins. Thank you, Gregg, for that tough question. Thank you, Doctor Lutzer, for your answer.
If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer dot com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. That's one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. You can write to us at RunningTowin 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Is a picture ever wrong? We need to understand God's commands that prohibit images meant to represent Him.
People disobey this commandment daily, giving worship to a vast array of idols, carvings, pictures, and icons. Are they sinning?
Next time on Running to Win, join us for a look at Commandment Number 2. Why God prohibits our using any images of Him in our worship. Running to win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
