GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 16

We are reading from a daily devotional  called “Running To Win” written by Erwin Lutzer  and the late, great D.L. Moody.   Erwin Lutzer is a light in our day as D.L. Moody was in his.  Besides his many ministries, and many books, Pastor Lutzer was Senior Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years and now serves as Pastor Emeritus there.  He is  Chancelor and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, where he taught Theology and Ministry, and now has numerous radio teachings.

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IDOL HUNTING

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; …..nor idolaters……will inherit the kingdom of God.”

D.L. MOODY

It is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the kingdom of God.  I may make an idol of my business;  I may make an idol of the wife of my bosom;  I may make idols of my children.  I do not think you need go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry.  Anything that comes between me and God is an idol – anything – I don’t care what it is;  business is all right in its place, and there is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love God more;  but God must have the first place; and if he has not, then the idol is set up.

ERWIN LUTZER

John Calvin, a Swiss Reformer, said that the mind was an idol factory.  We are constantly erecting idols in our hearts.(see Ezekiel 14:3 below).  By nature, we are idolaters;  we don’t have idols of wood and stone, but we do have idols of fame, fortune, and pleasure.  The idol of technology has stolen our hearts and distracted us from what is  most important.  Our smartphones have taken us places on the internet where we would have never thought we’d go.

It’s easy to find out what your idol is.  Number one;  what do you think about most of the time when you have free time to think?  Secondly, who do you desire most to please? 

The answers to those questions may well be the idols of your heart God needs to pluck from you.

The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’re that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Your throne,

And worship only thee.

William Cowper.

PRAYER

Father, let not an idol steal my affection for You;  come to my aid, I pray, and deliver me from its power!

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Ezekiel 14:3

“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put in front of their faces the stumbling block of their wrongdoing. Should I let Myself be consulted by them at all?”

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Colossians 3:5

 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

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Jonah 2:8

“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.

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Judges 10:14

 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

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Galatians 4:8

 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

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Galatians 5:19-21

 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Psalm 135:15-18

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands.

 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.

 They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.

 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

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Exodus 20:3-6

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

(what are some modern day idols?)

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Isaiah 44:9-20 (in reading this, think about the gadgets, beautiful things, status symbols, entertainment, etc. that can be, and many times are, idols, because they come before Christ in our lives.)

 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.

 Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing?

 People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.

 The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.

 The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

 He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.

 It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

 Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

 From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!”

 They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

 No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

 Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

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