Idol Worship
Isaiah 46:1-2 ESV
“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
as burdens on weary beasts.
They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but themselves go into captivity.”
An idol is not just a wood, silver, or gold carving of a
particular god which is worshipped by people, but an idol is anything we
worship and which we place ahead of or in place of the One and Only True God –
Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. It is whatever we give our
loyalty, devotion, time, passion, and desire to above loyalty and devotion to
God.
An idol, therefore, can be a career, a house, an automobile,
any physical possessions, pride, sin, a particular sinful addiction, self,
entertainment, intelligence, knowledge, talent, skill, money, other people,
government leaders, famous people, entertainers, sports figures, friends,
family, health, unhealthy practices, preachers, and physical nations (national
pride), etc.
We are not meant to bear the burden of idols (idolatry) for
Jesus Christ set us free from enslavement to sin and from our old self, and he
set us free to worship him only, and to bow down to him only as our only God.
We are to have no other gods before him, nothing which takes his rightful place
in our hearts as our first love.
For nothing and no one can save us from what ails us but
God. No government, no military, no medical treatments, no drugs, no amount of
money, no miracle cures, no one, nothing! For what ails us is sin, and only God
can save us from sin. Only God can rescue us and deliver us and give us true
hope, healing, and purpose for living.
Listen to the Lord
Isaiah 46:3-4 ESV
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.”
We who believe in Jesus Christ are Israel, the Israel of
God, the children of Promise, the inheritors of eternal life with God. We are
God’s people, the sheep of his pasture, whether Jew or Gentile by physical
birth. We are one in Christ by faith in Jesus Christ. We are the children of
Abraham, not those who are physical descendants of Abraham alone.
[Gal 3:16, 26-29; Rom 9:4-8; Gal 4:22-31; Eph 2:14-18; 1 Jn
2:22]
When our Lord speaks, we need to listen to what he has to
say to us. We need to accept both words of encouragement and words of rebuke
from him, when necessary. We need to accept his counsel, his correction, his
guidance, his direction, his wisdom, and his discernment, and we need to not
rely on our own reasoning or on worldly counsel.
Also, we need to be those who test everything we hear or
read or see or think we see, and we need to not just buy into everything that
sounds good, or that comes from our government or the news media or from people
holding positions of pastor or elder in the church, or who hold prominent
positions in the community or in any particular area of specialty.
Human beings are human. We don’t know everything. We are
subject to fail. Many human beings are liars and deceivers. Many are tricksters
and manipulators. We can’t put our trust in other humans, not in the way we
would trust God, not with full confidence that they won’t lie to us, for there
are many liars out there. So, let God be your only God.
Remember This
Isaiah 46:8-10 ESV
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose’.”
Many people who are professing faith in Jesus Christ are
still living in sin, doing what their flesh desires without regard for what God
wants for them and for what he requires of them. And many who have had genuine
faith have wandered from their pure devotion to the Lord and they are being led
astray by liars and deceivers who tell them what they want to hear.
So, this is a reminder from God. This is a strong
encouragement to bring to remembrance what our salvation from sin is all about,
and what the Christian life is to be in practice, and it is a reminder of what
the Scriptures teach with regard to holy living, and with regard to those who
make sin their practice, for if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit
eternal life.
God is a God of his word. What he says he will do he will
do. When he says if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin against him that
we will die in our sins, and that we will not inherit eternal life with God, he
means it. He isn’t saying it just to try to scare us into obedience. Many are
going to stand before God on that day and will hear, “Depart from me, I never
knew you.”
And who is he talking about? He is talking about those who
profess faith in Jesus Christ, who claim to be followers of Jesus, and who
claim that what they are doing they are doing for God and in the name of Jesus,
but it is lip service only, for they do not submit to God. They do not obey
him. And they do not forsake their sins to follow Jesus where he leads them
(Mtt 7:21-23).
You Stubborn of Heart
Isaiah 46:12-13 ESV
“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”
There are perhaps many professers of faith in Jesus Christ
who are stubborn of heart, who are willfully defiant to the Lord, and who
refuse to bow the knee to him and to obey his commands. They want to control
their own lives, for they take pride in their own accomplishments. They even
want to control their relationships with God (with Jesus Christ).
So, they establish their own relationships with God based on
what they are willing and not willing to do and based on their own flesh and
what their flesh is willing or not willing to accept. They create their own god
in their own minds in their own image who does what they want him to do, and
who does not frown at them when they willfully defy him and do what is evil.
Therefore, they also create their own gospel which fits
their own lifestyles and purposes, a gospel which makes no demands on them
whatsoever, and which teaches tolerance of sin, and freedom for lasciviousness,
and no requirements for submission to God, for obedience to his commands, and for
forsaking our sins in repentance and in true humility.
Therefore, they don’t really believe that God is going to
judge them. They don’t really believe that he will send them to hell. But God
will do as he said. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap
destruction, not life. But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we
will reap eternal life. For God will judge us by our works. Count on it!
He
is Exalted
By
Twila Paris
He is exalted, the King is exalted on High
I will praise Him
He is exalted, forever exalted
And I will praise His name
He is the Lord
Forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and earth
Rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted, the King is exalted on high
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jiI0GwWc8
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