IDOLATRY (Ezek 14:1-8) A. Ezekiel prophesied during Judah s B. captivity. 1. The LORD confined Ezekiel to his house (3:24) & he was not allowed to speak until the LORD was ready for him to speak. 2. When that time came, the elders would come to his house to hear what the LORD had to say (8:1; 20:1). Ezekiel 14:1-8 14 Then some elders of Israel came to me & sat down before me. 2 & the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts & have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Repent & turn away from your idols & turn your faces away from all your abominations. 8 [The man who does not] I will set My face against that man & make him a sign & a proverb, & I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord. 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third & the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me & keep My commandments. Idolatry is a work of the flesh, & those who practice it will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21) 1 John 5:21 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1. What idols John? 2. Most of those ancient idols like Molech (Ammonites), Baals (Pho-necians), Chemosh (Moabites), Dagon (Philistines), & calf worship had faded off the scene. 3. Paul gives us an indication of what kind of idolatry was troubling the church. B. What is idolatry? The best answer is by observing the commandment of God to Israel that prohibited it. Exodus 20:2-6 1 Corinthians 10:12-14 12 Therefore [because of the sexual immorality & complaining of Israel, for which many for destroyed] let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; & God is faithful, who will not allow 1
you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 4. Christians were being drawn into various types of sins by means of the religious customs in their cities, which were inter-woven into the fabric of their society. Colossians 3:5-7 5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, & greed, which amounts to idolatry [Anything that is given the place in our hearts that by right belongs to God. Idolatry is the deifying of self & other created things instead of God] 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedi-ence, 7 & in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 5. Corinth was one of the worst. In Corinth you could find the cults of the gods of Egypt, Rome & Greece. 6. The temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, stood atop the Acrocorinth. 7. It had fallen into ruins by Paul's time, but 1,000 cult prostitutes continued to ply their profession in the city below. 8. Many of them were housed in the lofts above the 33 wine shops, which have uncovered by excavation (The Biblical World In Pictures). 10. So the OT describes idolatry as giving honor to & serving an image that is entirely contrived & made by human intellect to represent God or Deity. 11. But the Holy Spirit broadens the concept of idolatry to refer to anything we give the praise, the service & the resources that rightfully belongs to God. [Do Americans have an idol in their hearts today? Have they set up their idols in their hearts & have [they] put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity (14:3)? When does something become a form of idolatry?] 9. So what idols were John & Paul warning the church about? a. Any custom practiced in our society that stirs up unholy desires within the heart. A. When it becomes a focus of the mind 2
1. What do we do when we focus on some-thing? We block everything else out. a. When you re using a pair of binoculars to focus on something, you often don t even hear what someone is saying. [So a serious examination of our hearts is in order on a day like this when so much is competing for our attention. Are we truly giving God all of our honor & praise?] 2. What is our focus supposed to be today? B. When it becomes a reason for missing church assemblies a. The Lord s death at Calvary, & His teachings. b. But if we re focused on something else, we won t be able to hear what His saying to us in His word. - That was a problem in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body & the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, & in so doing he is to eat of the bread & drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats & drinks, eats & drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak & sick, & a number sleep. [What was the problem? They were focused on their church social.] 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. (Heb 10:28-29) 1. Children sometimes look for reasons to stay home so they can do something funner. 2. Paul said, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 3. It s childish to miss services just to do something we want to do, & when we do we re certainly not thinking about how our presence can strengthen the faith of others. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. Hebrews 10:24-25 24 And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love & good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; & all the more as you see the day drawing near. 3
[Missing our times together is an indication that we are giving something or someone other than God the honor & praise that is rightly due Him.] 5. I was taught to view the evening service an extension of the morning service, the intervening time gives us the chance to refresh ourselves & pick up where we left off. C. When it becomes a cause for a congregation of the Lord s church to rearrange or cancel its worship assemblies. 1. Troas was in northwestern Asia (Turkey), in the province of Mysia. Troas was the scene of the events of the Iliad, an ancient Greek epic poem (Homer) set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states. 6. How many times have we gone home on Sunday afternoon & remembered that we forgot to greet someone that morning, or to give them a little encouragement to help them in the week ahead? 7. Not to mention, every church assembly gives us another rewarding opportunity to honor & praise God with our brothers & sisters in the Lord. 2. Imagine Paul going to Troas (Acts 20), & arriving a day late for worship service. So he waits for six days so he can assemble with the church. And when he arrives at the place where the church meets, one of the members comes along & says, Hello brother Paul. I m sorry but we re not having services tonight. Everybody is going to the public reading of the Iliad. 3. One of the arguments made for not returning on Sunday night is that it s just tradition. 4. Paul met on Sunday night with the church at Troas. D. When it becomes something that fascinates us for its sensual or fleshly (?) appeal. Gal 5:19 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication [sexual sins], uncleanness [moral impurities], lewdness [unchaste movements], 20 idolatry [image worship], sorcery [drug use], hatred [hostility], contentions [fighting], jealousies [heated exchanges] outbursts of wrath [breathing heavy in anger] selfish ambitions [creating factions] dissensions [disunity], heresies [sects], 21 envy [ill-will], murders [killing in anger], drunkenness [intoxicated], revelries [carousing, letting loose] and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 4
1. Over the last several years, what the FCC has allowed to be broadcast for public listening & viewing is shameful. 2. The forces of evil are relentlessly assaulting all that is right & godly. 3. Common decency is being driven further away from the pure & perfect will of God. 4. Isn t it amazing how a football in the hands of the wrong people can draw so much evil together at one time? 5. In Paul s day, it would have been a script for a stage performance, or a sword in the hand of a gladiator. James 1:13-15, 12 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God ; for God cannot be tempted by evil, & He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away & enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; & when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. [Paul said, Love (for God or man) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. (1 Cor 13:6)] CLOSING A. If you watch the Big Game tonight, or some other program of interest, consider the reasons you will be doing so? 1. Is it the all-important thing you planned to do on this Day? 2. Are you hoping to see something you shouldn t, to satisfy your fleshly appetites? 3. Can we say that our motives in doing so are completely wholesome? B. David spent a lifetime driving the evil from his land & out of his heart, & this is how he did it (Psa 101). 1 I will sing [worship] of lovingkindness & justice, To You, O Lord, I will sing praises. 2 I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. 3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. 5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look & an arrogant heart will I endure. 6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. 7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. 5
6 Jesus, meek & gentle, Son of God Most High; pitying, loving Savior, hear Thy children s cry. Pardon our offenses, loose our captive chains; break down every idol, which our soul detains.