The head that once was crowned
with thorns is crowned with glory now. A royal diadem adorns the
mighty victors. Highest place that heaven abhors
Belongs to him I write The King of kings and Lord of lords And
heaven's eternal light ? The joy of all below ? To whom
he manifests his love ? And grants his name to know ? To them the
cross with all its shame ? With all its grace is given Please be seated. Good morning. For our call to
worship this morning, let's turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. John chapter 10 verse 27 says,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Let us pray. Father, we've come
into your house this morning and gathered in your name to
worship you. And we cannot worship you unless you send your spirit
to this place. So we're mercy beggars asking
that you would do so according to your will. Call your sheep,
Lord, and make your presence known this morning unto them.
Be with Greg, give him clarity of mind, bring back to his remembrance
the things which you have prepared in his heart to deliver unto
us. And prepare our hearts this hour right now, Lord, to receive
your word. calls us to see Christ this morning.
It's in his name we pray, amen. Let's all stand together. Once
again, we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin,
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. ? A Jewish altar slain ? ? The
guilty conscience ? ? Peace nor wash away the stain ? ? But Christ
the heavenly King ? takes all our sins away. A sacrifice of nobler name and
richer ? My faith would lay her hand ?
On that dear head of thine ? While like a penitent I stand ? And
there confess my sin ? To our redeemed Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me again
to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. And we'll begin reading in verse
22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you are too superstitious. For as I pass by and beheld your
devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown
God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you."
Michael, could you help us out in the hallway a little bit,
please? Thank you. I've titled this message, The
Unknown God. The Apostle Paul is in Athens. They were very proud of their
philosophies, their presumed wisdom and knowledge. They had
Idols built statues all over the city to all the mythological
gods of the Greek mythology. And yet, there was one god they
didn't know, the one true god. But lest they miss worshiping a god, they had
an altar to what they called the unknown god. They admitted
that there was possibly a God that they did not know. And so,
lest we offend him, let's make an altar to him too. And we'll
worship him, even though we don't know who he is. And Paul saw
that, that devotion, that statue titled to the unknown God. And
he said, that's the God I'm gonna preach to you. The God you don't
know. And, Men by nature do not know God. We come into this world separated
from God. We come into this world spiritually
blind and spiritually dead. And although just like the Athenians,
nothing's changed in 2,000 years, just like the Athenians, We know
that there is a God, but because we don't know him, we are quick
to fashion in the darkened imagination of our own mind an idol that
we think represents him. That idol always ends up looking
like us. All men, all men, that's me and
you. have either been delivered from
idolatry or they are still idolaters. Did you get that? You're either
an idolater now or you've been delivered out of idolatry. All men by nature are idolaters. An idol is an image. It is a likeness. It is a cheap
copy. It is a semblance. It is a false
representation. It is a knockoff. It is a counterfeit. And because all men know that
there is a God, they naturally fashion something that they think
would be like that God. Idolatry and religious superstition
is just as prevalent today as it was in Athens 2,000 years
ago. We're not talking about just
someone in a farewell country dancing around a wooden image. We're talking about the idolatry
that all men practice right here, right now, not just burning incense
to some Hindu deity, not just as Trish's lady who does her nails and hair
does in the salon every time she walks by the Buddha, she
rubs its belly. Surely we look at that sort of
stuff and we think, well, that's idolatry. And yet, all men, all
men have fashioned in their mind an image of God that's not true
to who He is. Exodus chapter 20, Verse four,
the Lord says, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or that
is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. I am the Lord
thy God, a jealous God. So our God is jealous, and He's
jealous for His glory, and He forbids us to worship any God
that is an image of Him. That's what idolatry is. It's
man's attempt to create a God. that is not consistent with who
God is. At the very time that the Lord
gave Moses this law, the children of Israel, you remember, were
worshiping a golden calf. And they were violating God's
law right then, creating an image, something that they thought would
save them in their wanderings through the wilderness. Later
on, the Lord had Moses fashion a serpent out of brass and put
it on a pole. You remember when the children
of Israel were being bitten by venomous serpents, which is a
picture of us being bitten by sin. And Moses lifted up that
serpent in the wilderness, and the Lord said, anyone that looks
at that serpent will live. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
said, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And the Lord Jesus Christ
was lifted up, suspended between heaven and earth, bore in his
body the sins of his people, suffered the full wrath of God's
justice in order to put away our sins and presented himself
before his heavenly father for all our righteousness. And yet,
just like those children of Israel, you know what they ended up doing
during Hezekiah's day? They took that brazen serpent
that Moses had made and they made an idol out of it. They
worshipped it. They worshipped it. So, men do
today. In what's so-called Christianity,
they fashion all sorts of images of God and of angels and of saints
and those sort of things. God says, don't bow down to an
idol. I am a jealous God. I don't want
to be an idol worshipper. I want to know the one and only
true God. Being guilty of idolatry is to
be siding with Satan. Idolatry begins with him. Turn
with me to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. We'll begin reading at verse
12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. will be like the Most High. This matter of idolatry is all
Satan's plot. It's exactly, you go back to
the garden, it's exactly the temptation he gave to Eve, is
it not? When he said to Eve, God doesn't
want you to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
because he knows in the day in which you eat of it, your eyes
will be open and you'll become like God. What did Eve want to
be? She wanted to be like God. Satan wants to be like God. Men
want to be like God. And so they fashion idols that
look like themselves to worship. in order to find these that don't
know God. Men by nature are ignorant of
God. And unless God's pleased to reveal
himself, we will die in our ignorance. John chapter 8 verse 44, the
Lord Jesus said that Satan is the father of all lies. So all
these lies that are being told about God, all these false gods,
all these images and idols are fashioned in a lie by Satan. First John chapter 2 verse 22
says, who is a liar? but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ. He is the Antichrist, and he
is the one that denies the Father and the Son. You see, idolatry
denies God Almighty, His glory and salvation. It denies the
Lord Jesus Christ, His glory in redemption. That's what idolatry
does. 2 Thessalonians 2, The Scripture
speaks of the man of sin, the son of perdition, who sets himself
up on the throne of God. This is what idolatry is. Satan knows that he's blinded
man of the true God by sin. And so he promotes an idol. And he doesn't really care if
your idol is virtuous and moral or whether it's dishonorable
and immoral. Idols come in all shapes and
sizes. Like counterfeit money, they're
all worthless. They're all nothing but fake
images of the real thing. Turn back with me to our text
in Acts 17. What is the motivation behind
idolatry? Look at verse 22. Then Paul stood
in the midst of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you are too superstitious. Now you can look
up that word, superstitious. It is a conjunction of two words
in the original language. The first word is the word fear,
and the second word is the word devil. There is the motivation
between all idolatry. It's a fear of the devil. Like the gargoyles of medieval
castles and cathedrals, men are doing everything they can to
deliver themselves and guard themselves from the power of
Satan. They don't want to go to hell. And so they've fashioned
idols that they hope will deliver them. The problem is that Satan
himself is the designer of those idols. Idolatry is like a Trojan
horse. Satan brings in this idol and
promises to deliver you from the very thing that's in the
idol. And the idol opens and all the demons of hell that men
are so afraid of come out and destroy their lives and their
hopes of salvation. It's idolatry. It's the fear
of the devil. Perfect love casteth out fear. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
destroy the works of the devil. He said that one of the works
of the comforter, the Holy Spirit, is to convict the world of sin,
because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because they
go to my father, and of judgment, because the prince of this world
has been judged. What the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
on Calvary's cross was the judgment of the devil. And he delivered
from Satan all those who would be held in bondage to his lies
and would be nothing but idolaters like everyone else. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12. Look with me at verse 43. Matthew
chapter 12 at verse 43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places seeking rest and finding none. Then he saith,
I will return into my house from whence I came out. And when he
has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in there and dwell there, and the last state of the man
is worse than the first, even so shall it also be unto this
wicked generation." Now here's a picture of a man
who has some bad habits in his life, maybe some addictions,
maybe he's got some things he can't get control of. And so
he gets the proper amount of counseling and help and he's
able to get rid of that demon. And then the demon comes back
and he finds that the house is swept and garnished. Got all sorts of religious things
set up in that house, but it's empty. Christ is not there. And so he brings back with him
seven demons stronger than himself. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. You've seen it. People who've
swept their houses clean and they've become very religious,
very committed to their idolatry, They're the people who are least
open to the gospel. They're the ones you can't talk
to. They're the ones who've made a covenant with death. They're
the ones who are in agreement with hell. They're the ones who
say, well, I'm good, I'm fine. I've got my house in order. I've
got everything cleaned up and I'm ready to meet God. And the
truth is that they're Bondage to their idols is worse now than
it was before. We are admonished in the scriptures
in 1 John 5, verse 21, little children, little children, keep
yourself from idols. Don't settle for a fake image
of God. Let it be said of us that was
said of the church in Thessalonica, how they turned to God from their
idols to serve the true and living God. Now notice the scripture
doesn't say they turned from their idols to God. They turned
or were turned by God's spirit to God. And in turning to him,
They were turned away from their idols, from all their false images
and untrue thoughts about God. Our Lord in that model prayer
tells us that we're to pray for the Lord to deliver us from the
evil one. And every child of God knows
that Satan's stronger than I am. He's stronger than you are. He
that's within you is greater than he that's within the world.
We're turned again and again and again. Lord, turn me and
I shall be turned. And we're turned to look to Christ
and see God for who He is in the glorious person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in doing so, the Lord delivers
us from all forms of idolatry. What is the difference? What
is the difference between an idol and the true and living
God? Well, idols are worthless. The true and living God is priceless.
All idols, regardless of what shape or form they take, all
idols, all unknown gods require you to do something in order
for them to be able to save you. And the one and only true God
has already done all the work by himself. All idols rob Christ
of his glory and salvation. The gospel of God's free grace
in the glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
ascribes to him all praise and all glory and all honor. All
idols promise you a false hope. The gospel is a sure hope. an
anchor for our soul that the scripture says is sure and steadfast
because it's a work accomplished by God himself. And all idols
appeal to the flesh, whereas the true and living God puts
to death the flesh. All idols are worthless. They're
worse than worthless, actually. They have a negative value for
like counterfeit money. If you're caught with an idol,
you are subject to prosecution. It's not just that you have a
piece of paper that's of no value. You have a piece of paper that's
going to cost you to be judged, arrested by God. Not only can idols not save us,
they will condemn us. They will condemn us. All other
Jesuses, all other representations, whether they be crude or refined,
whether they be monopoly money or some expert counterfeit, are
worthless and leave us subject to judgment. The true and living
God, in contrast to being worthless, is priceless. Always priceless. He's the pearl of great price. Turn with me to 1 Peter 2. 1
Peter 2. Look with me at verse four, 1
Peter chapter two, verse four. To whom coming. Religious people
love to talk about when they came to Christ and they're hanging
the hopes of their salvation on an experience that they had.
when like the Epicurean philosopher, they experienced some euphoric
feeling of whatever, and that's their salvation. The child of
God is always coming. We come, to whom coming? As unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. That word is priceless. The Lord
Jesus Christ is not like that worthless idol. No, to the contrary,
he is priceless. Look at verse five. You also
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the Scriptures, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, priceless. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is priceless." Oh, do you see the difference between a
counterfeit, an idol, a fake image, that Satan fashioned by
lies in the hearts of men, and this true God. Unto you, therefore, which believe
He is precious, and unto them which be... You see that word
disobedient? Let me tell you what that word
is in the Greek language. It's the word apathy. Apathy. You know, they say as long as
there's some anger involved in a relationship, there's hope
to restore it. But when a relationship becomes
completely apathetic to where neither party cares anymore,
then it's over. That's what the Lord's saying
here, that these are people who don't care. They're just apathetic. They don't have any interest
in this thing of knowing the true and living God. You know,
well, come back another day. Isn't that what the philosophers
told? Come back another day, we'll hear you again. Isn't that
what Felix said when he said, almost thou persuadest me to
become a Christian. Come back, I'll listen to you
again some other day. Right now, I've got more important
things to be concerned with. I'm indifferent, I'm apathetic.
And the Lord says, unto you therefore which believe, oh, he is just
the opposite of apathetic. He's everything to you. He's
your life. He's your salvation. He's your
righteousness. He's your wisdom. But to them
which believe not, they're just indifferent. They're just apathetic. They've got more important things
to be concerned about. To them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed. In other words, the
workman comes on the worksite and he sees this rock there and
he just throws it over in the ditch. It's not important, it's
just in the way. And that's what the gospel is.
For idolaters, the gospel's in the way. Because it exposes their
idol for what it is. These Athenians were worshiping
the unknown God. But they were worshiping all
these other idols too, weren't they? They didn't know the God
who was. Look what he says in verse eight.
And a stone of stumbling, a rock of a fancy to them would stumble
at the word, being disobedient where unto also they were appointed. They were ordained as vessels
of destruction. They bear the full responsibility,
but God never chose them. Oh, I don't want to be that way.
I don't want to be apathetic or indifferent to the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ is precious. He's priceless. He's that pearl
of great price, and He's either everything. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom. for the merchandise of it is
better than the merchandise of silver and gold. She is more
precious than rubies and all things that thou canst desire
are not to be compared to her. She is of infinite value. You
see the difference between a worthless idol and the true and living
God? Secondly, all idols regardless
if it's a totem pole or Buddha or some crucifix or, you know,
whatever it is that men are worshiping as a false image of God, all
of them require you to do something in order for them to be able
to save you. You've got to, you've got to
do your part. You've got to make your contribution.
You've got to put your free will or your works or your knowledge
or your wisdom into the mix in order for them to be able to
save you. They're powerless to save by themselves. That's why
I say, that's why I say that men have put themselves up on
the throne of God. They make themselves to be God.
All idolatry really puts man on the throne. That's, you know,
God's voting for you, the devil's voting against you. You're the
one that gets to break the tie. You hold the trump card. You've
got all the power. Isn't that the message of every
religious persuasion, every idol? The men who fear the devil and
they want to escape his judgment and yet, They buy into his lies that they
possess the power to save themselves. God wants to save everybody.
He wants to, but he just can't. If that's true, Now let me ask
you a question. What does the will of God have
to do with anyone's salvation? If people who go to hell God
wanted to save, just as people who go to heaven God wanted to
save, then what does the will of God have to do with anyone's
salvation? Doesn't even make sense, does
it? The same thing should be said about the love of God. If
God loves everybody, those who go to hell as well as those who
go to heaven, then what does the love of God have to do with
anyone's salvation? It doesn't, does it? All idols require something of
man in order for them to be able to save. Now, turn with me to
Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Here's the
difference. Here's the difference between
do and done. Either you have to do something
in order to earn favor with God or the Lord Jesus Christ has
already done it. It's one way or the other. It's
idolatry or it's the one true and living God. Hebrews chapter
one, look at verse three. Who being the Lord Jesus Christ,
the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person
and upholdeth all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. And God said, sit thou here at
my right hand until I make all thine enemies thy footstool. He had by Himself purged our
sins. When did He do that? Do your
sins get purged when you make your contribution to your salvation? Or did the Lord Jesus Christ
actually cover all the sins of all of God's people with His
precious blood on Calvary's cross? You see, here's the difference
between idolatry and the true and living God. All idols are
worse than worthless. The true and living God is priceless. All idols require you to do something
in order for them to be able to save you. The true and living
God did all the saving all by himself. You're there in Hebrews
chapter, look over just a few pages to Hebrews chapter nine.
Hebrews chapter nine, look with me at verse 12. And the Jews had made idolatry
out of animal sacrifices. And here's what the Lord said,
neither by the blood of bull of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. When that veil of the holies
of holies was rent, the Lord Jesus Christ was showing that
He had gone into the holies of holies and placed His blood on
the mercy seat. And having obtained, past tense,
eternal redemption. Redemption's not something that
starts when you decide to believe. Redemption was accomplished by
the blood that was shed by the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world and concluded in time on Calvary's cross when
Christ shed his precious blood, having obtained. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of heifers sprinkled through the unclean,
sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God." Don't miss that. He offered himself without
spot to God. What the Lord Jesus Christ was
doing on Calvary's cross was not making himself an offering
to us to be accepted or rejected. He was making himself an offering
to God. And God saw that offering and
God said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. Everyone he died
for was redeemed by his blood. He made himself an offering to
God, to purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living and true God. Oh, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one who established
the law. He's the one who kept the law. He's the one who fulfilled
all righteousness. He's the one who justified God's
people. He's the one who intercedes on
their behalf as their righteous advocate. So what does all idols? It doesn't matter. You know,
pick one. And the most dangerous idols
are the ones that are closest to the truth, just like with
counterfeit money. I mean, most of us are not going
to get fooled by monopoly money, but you give somebody a really
good, professionally counterfeit, you know, you might think it's
a real thing. They all have this in common.
They're all worthless. They all require you to do something
in order for them to be able to save you. And in contrast,
the Lord Jesus Christ is precious, priceless, and he's done all
the work all by himself. Thirdly, all idols rob Christ
of his glory. We saw that. in Isaiah chapter
14, when Lucifer said, I will set myself up on the throne of
God. That's the motivation behind all idolatry. And man who sets
himself up, I will ascend into the heavens. I will exalt my
throne. Satan is the father of lies and
he's the creator of all idolatry. You can tell an idolater when
they start telling you about their religious experience and
it always begins with I. You listen to idolater tell you
about their relationship with God and they'll start out with,
you know, I was here and I was there and I did this and I did
that and then I accepted Jesus and I, you know, I go to church
and I do this and Robbing Christ of His glory.
You talk to a believer about the Lord Jesus Christ, what do
they say? You know, I didn't have any interest in things of
God. He arrested me. Christ stopped
me. Christ revealed himself to me. He brought me to a place where
I could hear the gospel. He opened the eyes of my understanding. He opened my ears. He opened
my heart. He opened the windows of heaven.
He opened up his word. He made me to come to him. He
caused me to believe on him and he gets all the glory. He gets
all the glory for it. Paul preached unto them, Jesus, and the resurrection. You know, that word preached
in Acts chapter 17, in verse 18, where he said, because he
preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection, that word preached
is translated good news. Good news. The gospel is good
news because you didn't have anything to do with it. That's
pretty good news. If you've got anything whatsoever
to do with your salvation, can you consider that good news?
If God's looking to you for any part of your salvation, is that
good news to you? Yeah, I was talking to Donnie
Bell yesterday and he reminded me of a quote I've
heard many times. He said, honest men don't go
to hell. They really don't. No. That's not good news, is
it? Good men might go to hell, but
honest men don't go to hell. Men who know that there's nothing
good in an idol that requires something from me. There's nothing
good in an idol that has no value before God and will judge me
guilty. Rob's Christ of His glory. Go back with me to our text in
Acts 17, let me show you something in verse 24. And this is not just physical
creation, this is spiritual creation. What is physical creation? God
making something out of nothing. What is spiritual creation? God
making something out of nothing. It's insane. He's creator. That's what the word create means.
You know, we use that word very loosely when we talk about someone
being creative, but it really, we're just taking one thing in
fashion and into something else. God is making something out of
nothing. Look what Paul said in preaching
to these philosophers, the unknown God, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth, he dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands as though he needed anything. Isn't that glorious? We worship a God who doesn't
need anything. Oh, we need him. seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things." If we're going to have life, he's
going to have to give it to us. Nicodemus, except you be born
of the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You've
got to be born again. Fourthly, all idols offer They're
worshipers, a false hope. All idols do. You talk to one
of your idolater friends that are worshiping a false god, and
they'll tell you, oh, I've got peace with God. I've made a covenant
with death. In hell, I'm in agreement. I'm
not worried. I'm ready. Because their prophets
have told them peace, peace, when there is no peace. And they'll
tell you why they're ready. Well, because I've done this
and because I've done that. A false hope. Scripture says, the hypocrite's
hope shall perish, whose hope shall be cut off, who has trusted in a spider's
web. spider's web. If you ever read
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards, he likens
idolaters as being dangled over the pit of hell, holding on to
a spider's web. You know what? And he gets that
from this passage. That's what the Lord said. They make lies their refuge. And in contrast to that, we have
a sure hope. We have a God who cannot fail,
a God whose promises are true. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
six. Hebrews chapter six. Verse 17, wherein God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable
things, these things cannot be changed. in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entered in within the veil, with the forerunner for
us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross, was the confirmation of
God's oath. And he took his blood and he
put it on that mercy seat. And God said, I'm satisfied.
What greater hope can we have? If the hope of our salvation
is determined by anything that we can do, what comfort is there? What consolation? That's what
the word This is the strong consolation that we have, that we have a
God who cannot lie, a God who has actually accomplished the
salvation of his people. It is a sure hope. 1 Timothy
1, verse 1, Paul, in addressing Timothy, says, the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is our hope. He is our hope. He's our forerunner. He's the one that's gone before
us. And he offered up his works for his acceptance with the father.
And the father accepted him based on what he had done. Lastly,
not only are all idols worthless, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
priceless. Not only do all idols require
you to do something in order for them to be able to save you,
and the Lord Jesus Christ did it all by himself. Not only do
all idols rob Christ of his glory and salvation, the gospel of
God's free grace gives to the Lord Jesus Christ all the glory
for salvation. Not only do all idols give their
followers a false hope and a false peace. We have a true hope, a
sure hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who cannot fail to save his people. The last thing about idolatry
is that all idols appeal to the flesh. They all appeal to the
flesh. They all give fleshly men some
fleshly things to do. Whether it be a decision that
they make with their free will, or whether it be a work that
they accomplish with their determination and with their commitments, or
whether it be a wisdom that they achieve by their study and by
their, it appeals to the flesh. Men love and are attracted to
idolatry because it appeals to the flesh. And the Bible says
that which is of the flesh is flesh and the flesh profiteth
nothing. And those that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh. So fleshly men are drawn
to idolatry because it appeals to the flesh. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
three. Philippians chapter three. We'll begin reading in verse
three. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh." Paul goes on to say, though I
might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
that he might trust in the flesh, I the more. If salvation is achieved
by fleshly means, oh, I've got them. He said, I was circumcised
the eighth day. of the stock of Israel, the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is of the law or in the law, I was blameless. And what
things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea,
I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord." Oh, every idolatrous God appeals
to the flesh. And in contrast to that, the
gospel of God's free grace in the accomplished work and glorious
person of the Lord Jesus Christ puts to death the flesh. It mortifies
the flesh. It causes us to see what our
flesh is. Nothing but sin. unable, unable
to produce any righteousness or earn any acceptance with God. Paul preached to those philosophers
the God they didn't know. That's what we do every time
we come together. We preach that God that the world does not know
the one they have substituted with an idol. For all men. All men. Are either idolaters. Now. Or they were. It's just. The way we are in it. May God
be pleased to. reveal to our hearts the Lord
Jesus Christ and enable us to worship him in spirit and in
truth. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for Christ and for
his redemptive work. Lord, we pray that you would
keep us looking to him alone, the priceless redeemer for all
our salvation. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 229 in our heart back
to him, let's stand together.