Idol – Eyes, Part 2

One of the reasons more of our prayers are not being answered is we bring idols into the prayer meeting. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the unintended consequences of giving anything or anyone the kind of attention only God deserves. Every time you go to an idol, you attract demons. So a lot of us are walking around here demon controlled.

This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Admiration is one thing. Idolatry is another. But where do we draw the line between the two, and how can we tell if we've crossed it?

Those are the questions Dr. Evans will answer today. Let's join him. There is no other sin spoken of as much as this one sin in all of the Bible. In all of the Bible, the dominant thing that is addressed over everything else is the sin of idolatry. One of the reasons that God despises idolatry is because of his jealousy.

You see, he has an exclusivity clause on you. No competition allowed. No competing deities up in here, up in here. God says, I don't want anybody sitting beside me thinking they're equal to me, because then that is a false God and an illegitimate competitor to me.

Idolatry is anything in the creation that competes with our loyalty to the Creator. God, being a jealous God, demands exclusivity over your life and my life. Now, I know we like to say, well, God is first in my life, and that sounds good.

That sounds good. But there's only one way that you really know if God is first in your life, and that is by the decisions you make. Now, is he first in my decision?

Not is he first in my feelings. The God of the Bible is transcendent. Now, that's a big theological word that simply means he is distinct from his creation. That is, he is separate from what he made.

Now, why is that important? Because all idols are determined by what has been made. So whatever an idol is, it was created. So whenever you have something created and you worship it, you have not made it transcendent, you've reduced it to being imminent.

Eminent means he's part of, he's down in the mix of. God is transcendent. The Bible says he sits high above the earth.

That he sits outside of time, he sits outside of space. That's why when Moses came and Moses said, you told me to go to Pharaoh, tell him to let my people go, they're going to ask me a question. They're going to say, who died and made you boss? They're going to ask me, who gave you authority to tell Pharaoh to let us go?

Where do you get this authority from? So who should I tell him sent me? God told Moses, well, you tell him, I am that I am sent you.

Now what kind of name is that? It says you tell them, I am that I am. Now you talk about a pregnant phrase. I am that I am. Let's walk with that phrase a little bit. First of all, you tell them that I am self-defined.

I am that I am. Translation, I am not what you want me to be. See, what folks want to do is they want to get God to adjust to what they think God is, what they think God wants. Well, I feel God would have me do this. Well, I feel God would have me do that. Well, I think no, no, no, no. On what basis do you feel that?

You feel that because you ate too much pizza? On what basis do you feel that? The only way you know that it is what God wants you to do is because God has declared it is what he wants you to do regardless of your emotion at that given time. In other words, you and I cannot craft God in the image of our preferences.

How you think and how you were raised and what your mama taught you and what your daddy taught you and what your friends think and what your baby says is secondary. The question is, did God say amen? Not did you say amen. And if God didn't say amen, then it is not legitimate no matter how positive you feel about it. Because, you know, we whip up these things in our minds and that's when we make ourselves our own idols because we will overrule God. Say, well, I know God said this, but I think this. What you just did was say, I'm God, he's not, I am trumping him on this matter.

Then what you've done is you've made yourself your own idol because you've trumped God. He says, I am that I am. He's not only self-defined, he is also self-sufficient. I am because I am. In other words, I exist because I exist. Translation, I don't have to go outside of me to be me.

Everything I need to be me is already in me because I am that I am. You can't say that. You are because your mother and father were. If your mother and father were, then you aren't. But because they were, you is.

I know that doesn't sound right. Your children are because you exist. In other words, nobody is self-sufficient where they are able to exist without outside forces enabling that existence to occur.

You need oxygen, you need food, you need this, you need that. You need things outside of you to be you. God says, I am that I am, meaning I don't have to go outside of me to be who I am and to be who I always will be. So he's self-defined, he's self-existent, he's self-sufficient, and he is eternal because I am is present tense. There's no past or future with God. He always exists in his I am-ness, that is, present tense.

He's personal, I, so he's a personal God, he's not a force, you know, this is not Star Wars, he's a personal God, but he's a personal God in the present and only in the present. So he has no past, no future. He talks to us in past, present, and future because we live linearly.

He does not live linearly. He doesn't live from yesterday to tomorrow. Everything with God is now. That's why the Bible says a thousand years is as a day to the Lord because it's all like right now. This is why you can believe what he says in the Bible because he's not waiting for it to happen. He's not hoping, well, I sure hope what I said comes true. You know, I gave prophecy, but I just don't know. I hope that I hope it right.

No, no, no. It's all now for him. Now, we can't relate to that now, but if you're a believer in Christ, when you go to heaven, you will be living in the eternal now. That's why there's no night there, okay? The sun will be eradicated. Time will be no more. So everything, even a billion years from now, will be now. You won't age.

There will be no aging processes. Everything will be in the now, in the moment. Now, that tells you, without going into detail, that's another sermon, a lot about heaven, because since heaven is only full of joy, now, to different degrees and all that, but it's only full of joy, all the joy will be in the now, in the present tense.

You won't have to find it, locate it, whip it up, because it will all be in the present tense. Well, that's then. God exists in that forever, because his name is I Am That I Am. So, Mo, you tell them that the all-sufficient, eternal, self-defined, eternal one told you what to do, and that's all you need to do to move forward. But if you don't have the right view of God, he says, by the way, they have idols in their heart.

Ah, that explains a lot. He says, you see, we all have an idol factory inside of us. See, we're built to replicate idols, like General Motors is built to replicate cars, okay? We got an idol factory. It just spits out idols, okay?

All it needs is the right data, and it will idolize it. And this factory, called the heart, builds its idols around its affections, its affections. You see, when people have an idol, it's because they like it or they want something from it. See, you don't just build an idol to build an idol. People build idols because they want the idol to do something for them, to bless them.

In the Bible, they had idols of fertility. They had idols for the weather. They had idols for this. Those idols weren't just stuff in Never Never Land. These are idols.

I need to do something for me. So it owned their affections for which they sought benefit. God is saying they have idols in their heart. In other words, their affection is not for me. Their pursuit is not of me. I am not the pleasure that they seek. I am not the priority that they pursue. They don't be here for me. They be here to get something from me, but not for me. So they have idols from the heart. Their affection is not for me. Their love is not for me. That's why the great commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, might, soul.

In other words, all of you. There is to be no part of your psyche, your physiology, of your emotions that are to be extricated from a passionate pursuit of a person. But we have within us an idol maker, a factory, that when our affections are drawn away from God, it wraps itself around a new God called an idol, whether it's a person, place, thing, or thought. You're going to discover things that you didn't think were idols, but you're going to discover, oh, yeah, I guess I've been given that a little bit more worship than I thought. And so the right view of God is critical.

And Dr. Evans will explain how to go about finding that right view when he continues our message in just a moment. Stay with us. Politics, money, gender, race, these are just some of the idols we worship in America when we elevate them above the place of Jesus in our lives. But you can break free and live the Christ-centered, kingdom-focused life that God calls you to. We want to help you do that with two powerful resources from Dr. Tony Evans, his brand-new message series called American Idols, and his popular book, America, Turning a Nation to God. Now is the time for God's people to stand together. Go to TonyEvans.org today to get both resources.

America, Turning a Nation to God will teach you practical steps you can take to put God first in your life for the betterment of your family, your community, and your nation. It makes the perfect follow-up for what we've been learning today, which is why we're bundling this important book together with all eight messages from Tony's brand-new teaching series, American Idols. We'll send this powerful resource package to you as our way of saying thanks when you make a donation in support of Tony's important work here on this station and around the world. This is a limited-time offer, so visit us soon at TonyEvans.org, where you can get all the details and make your request. Or call 1-800-800-3222. Members of our resource team are there 24-7 to help you in person. That's 1-800-800-3222.

I'll have that contact information for you once again after part two of today's message. God is transcendent. He's outside of time and space, and that's why He is the unfigureable God. My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways.

As high as the heavens are above the earth, that's how high I am. So don't start with you. Don't start with y'all, and don't start with your peeps. Start with me. Let me define who you are. You got folk around here going looking for themselves. I'm trying to find out who I am. I don't know who I am. If you don't know who you are, how do you even know what you're looking for? Just, I don't know who I am.

He wants you to find your identity, the starting point, in Him, and let Him define who you are and who you were created to be. Now, this is going to get into the idolatry of identity. Idolatry is huge. What people do is when they don't like what God says, they go to their idol who gives them permission. See, here is why people want idols. Let me tell you why we want idols.

Because we want something we can control. See, I can't control God. He going to tell me what He thinks, whether I like it or not. I can't control Him. So I need an idol who going to say yes when I want Him to, who going to say no when I want Him to, who going to agree with me when I want Him to.

I want an idol that will adjust to me. I don't want to be accountable to a God. I want to use His name, but I don't want to have to answer to it. I don't want to have to do what He says. My precious father, some years ago, he went to the doctor, and the doctor said, well, look, you know, this is what you're going to have to do to get healthy.

You're going to have to stop eating this and stop eating that and change this and change that. My father just said, I've been looking at it. You know, this is what you got to do.

You got to do this, this, this, this, and this. I said, so dad, what did you do? He said, I changed doctors. That's what we do with God. When we don't like what God says, we change gods.

Because we want a God that will endorse us until there is a decision to passionately pursue a person. That's the test God gave Moses. He said, Moses, y'all go into the Promised Land, but I'm not going with you. Just, y'all go ahead. Land flowing with milk and honey. Y'all go ahead and have a good time. Moses said, now, if you don't go, I'm not going.

I don't care how nice it is over there. God was testing him. Who do you want more, the blessing or the blesser?

Who do you want more? See, we live in a world today where folks want the blessing. And I'll take the blesser until I get the blessing. And then he talks about the cost of idolatry. He says in Ezekiel 14, they have idols in their heart. And then he asks in the verse three, should I be consulted by them?

They really want to have a conversation with me? They have idols of the heart. He says at the end of verse four, the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols. Oh, it says, when you pray to me, I'm going to answer you based on how many idols you got. Because when you come to me and I'm not in your heart and I'm not your God and you're bringing all these other gods in here with me, well, I'm going to answer your prayer according to all them gods you got. One of the reasons more of our prayers are not being answered is we bring idols into the prayer meeting. We bring idols into the prayer meeting. We want, God, now I know I got this idol and this, this, this, and this, but I need you so much, God. Please, please answer my prayer. Why won't God answer my prayer? Because you got a whole complex of idols involved in your prayer. He says, shall they be consulted?

Oh yeah, I'll answer them. I'll answer them according to all the gods that they bring. And he says, and you will face your abominations. America, it has a theological and spiritual problem. See, all this division you're seeing across race, across genders, across political parties, all that is symptoms of what happens in a culture when it abandons the true God. When a culture abandons the true God, a vacuum is set where chaos enters in.

2nd Chronicles, chapter 15, verses 3 to 6. Because they abandoned God, it says there was no peace. So the further you get away from God, then now man wants to decide what's life and what's not life and who dies and who doesn't die and how we deal with older people and how we don't. And man wants to decide that because when you get rid of the true God, now you become God. Government becomes God. Man becomes God. And they come up with all these new definitions that become political fights, political fights. This is a theological issue.

It's a biblical issue related to the true God. But if you're more Democrat than Christian, if you're more Republican than Christian, then you're going to go with the party. You're not going to go with the king.

I had a friend of mine tell me, he said, well, you know, I vote the same way every year. And he said, because I'm a company man. I said, you ought to be a kingdom man.

You ought to be voting. You ought to be taking from the Word of God as the basis. You say, well, all this is in the Old Testament.

No, no, no, no, no. 1 John 5 21 says, my children keep yourselves from idols. But now I want to tell you the main reason why you want to get rid of your idols. And we all have them. We all have them. You know, there's no big I's or little U's. We all have them.

Sometimes we just don't know we have them. But let me give you the whopping reason why you want to identify and destroy any idol that God, his Holy Spirit reveals to you. And it's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He writes the New Testament church. And this is what he says to the New Testament Christians in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Paul writes, verse 19, what do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything.

So he's talking about idols. No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons, verse 22. Or do we provoke the Lord to, here it is, jealousy. We are not stronger than He, are we? Oh, no, you didn't.

Guess what God just said? Every time you go to an idol, you attract demons. So a lot of us are walking around here demon controlled. You think it's an emotional problem? No, it's demonic.

You think it's a bad attitude? No, it's demonic. You think, well, I just got issues. Yeah, you do, demons. Because he says, if you are with an idol, like garbage attracts roaches, idols attract demons. And I don't want you, see, that's why a lot of the problems and addictions, we can't get over.

And the reason we can't get over is that it's been demified. In other words, whatever the problem started out to be, demons got in there, amped up the issue. So you're trying to get rid of a problem when really the problem are the demons you can't get rid of because you haven't gotten rid of the idols that controls the demons controlling you.

He says, I do not want you to become a sharer in demons. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with a quick closing thought for the day. But first, don't forget to visit TonyEvans.org to check out that new package of resources I mentioned earlier. It starts with Tony's timely and important book, America, Turning a Nation to God, and includes CDs and instant downloads of all eight full-length messages in his brand-new teaching series, American Idols. They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to keep this listener-supported program on the air. But this special offer won't last, so don't wait. Visit TonyEvans.org today or reach out to our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are always on hand to help you.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. It takes a panel of experts to nail down the definitions in a dictionary, but defining who we are and what we're worth is a job God never delegates to anyone, including us. So why are we so inclined to listen to other voices, and how can we stop? Find out when you join us again on Monday. Right now, though, Dr. Evans is back with this closing thought. So you must make a decision. Loving an idol is like a wife loving the wedding ring more than the bridegroom. She likes what the bridegroom gave her but doesn't necessarily care for the one who gave it. See, everybody wants what God can give without a heart that wants the God who gave it. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.