1 Samuel 5
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we are continue to walk through 1 Samuel we are in chapter 5 today so you can go ahead and turn there we're going to go through all of chapter 5 so I enjoy history like I like it a lot like if I'm on Netflix and I see a World War II documentary it's dangerous cuz that's 10 hours of my life that just will get captured so easy uh the more I study history I I appreciate some of the things that I learned uh one of the things that uh is consistent that I've seen uh is that humans really aren't that much different over time.
I mean times change but people in our nature we just kind of stay the same that people from centuries ago they certainly you know don't have some of the technological advances that we have and some of the resources that we have but we're actually not that much smarter than they are which I know may feel that feels like we got all kinds of things that we have that they didn't have back then but generally I just don't think we're that much uh smarter and certainly not that much wiser I mean they could like years ago could navigate uh at Night by The Stars like they just looked at the stars and just chared a path.
And I got night I have a GPS and like I maybe can follow it sometimes the map gets flipped around but I'm really dependent upon that to get around ancient Hebrew children they memorize the first five books of the Old Testament memorize them just pick a Bible up and see how long that is and like we barely can memorize lines from movies like we we just I mean the Egyptians built uh the pyramids and they still stand thousands of years later and we built skyscrapers that I don't know might last a century who knows even like.
If you read stuff that was written a few hundred years ago like I have this quote from Jonathan Edwards that he wrote uh hundreds of years ago and I just want to read this is a from excerpt from his letter just listen to the language here he says forgive me that I do not conceal my name and communicate this to you through a mediator I do not state it as a hypothesis but as a plain fact which my own eyes have witnessed in which everyone senses may make him as certain of as of anything else although these things appear to me thus certain still I submit the whole to your better judgment and deeper insight.
And I humbly beg to be pardoned for running the Venture though an utter stranger of troubling you with so prolix an account of that which I am altogether uncertain whether you will esteem worthy the time and the Pains of reading he was 11 that is a letter he wrote when he was 11 years old and I think it's important to realize this because what happens is is that when we look back at history we think oh they were so unenlightened primitive.
Because we have like chat GPT that can write an email for us or we can access mostly correct information from Wikipedia that makes us so much more enlightened than they are I think that's it's it's helpful to be humbled by history and looking at this because when you get to passages like we have today you can read them and have a position of arrogance that says oh they were so primitive so foolish so unenlightened and you will miss the reality that we are not that much different than them that some of the things we.
See in this passage are some of the same things that we do in just different ways today and my hope is as we walk through this we'll still see that human nature is still quite Fallen that we still run to things and choose bad Pursuits in the place of running to God and that we are still desperately in need of the Savior so I will pray and then we'll walk through this passage together heavenly father I pray that you would humble our hearts to receive your word that we might.
See you so clearly as the only one worthy of our worship and our our Pursuit and that that would change the way we live we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so we'll pick up in verse one it says when the Philistines captured the Ark of God they brought it from Ebenezer to ashdod then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the house of deeon and set it up beside deeon which disclaimer some versions will say Deon that's how it's pronounced other ones other people will say Dagon I'm going to try to stick with Deon.
But Dagon sounds really Southern and it might come out either one's okay just don't be annoyed if I switch between the two but partly of what's Happening Here I would argue is that as we saw last week the Israelites were defeated okay the Philistines take the Ark of the Covenant they bring it back to their land and they set it up beside deeon which is a little bit of we beat you we defeated you and and you should should be humiliated this is what armies did.
For centuries this is what they've always done the the Romans they uh they used to have something called the Roman Triumph at procession and what that was is when they defeated and conquered a mighty enemy they would parade them into Rome and they had the Victorious General up front and then you'd have all the spoils of Victory behind and then these Mighty Warriors that they defeated were now humbled and chains and shackles dragged in front of everyone as they're feasting and rly and celebrating.
And then they would behead them and sell them off as slaves as a big feast and celebration this is what ancient armies this is what they they did and and something even when you go further back to the time where this is written in their context one of the things they would do is that when you conquered a people to really show your utter uh uh control in winning the battle that you won you would take their God and you make it a part of yours you'd bring it in and partly this is to bring shame upon the people we are.
So powerful our army is so mighty and our gods are so much greater we beat you and now we take yours and that's what's happening they bring the Ark of the Covenant and they bring it into one of the five major cities of philistia the land of the Philistines there are five major cities ashdod gath ashalon erron and uh Gaza which that is the same region Gaza that's still today not the same people but the same region so one of these five major cities ashad they bring uh uh the ark of the Covenant into ashad and they set it into the house of deeon.
Now this is a a false G uh that didn't originate with them it actually originated in ancient Syria but they've adopted it as one of their own now we don't know for sure what this false God was supposed to provide for the people because that's how a lot of these Idols worked is they they were over something so uh when I read uh the story book Gospel story book Bible we do Family Worship at night sometimes we have the Gospel story book Bible and I'll read this.
When we get to the story uh they picture it as a a kind of a fish human uh uh type God and that draws on a tradition that looks at this and says oh this is a God that would have overseen uh uh fishing or or Maritime Journeys others will say no no no no no this was uh this was more of a of a God who ever saw grain uh in in Grain harvesting I don't know I don't think we know.
For sure but this is what they would do Deon was a God that you would go to in order to get something and I think that's something that we need to understand in order to understand how idolatry worked at that time because I think we ever simplify this and think oh they think that that that statue that stone statue of deeon is is literally that's the God and we think oh how foolish and silly that they would go down and and bow down to these Idols.
When I was in India years ago I went around and I saw some of these temples that they would literally bow down to some of these idols and pay hge to and do these practices and it's not that simple because it's more of a doorway to this Deon God who is in the air somewhere and and and he provides could be fish for these coastal cities and that you go to get that from that God just like you would go to we hear about in the Old Testament ba or Baal that you would go to Baal.
Because he would help you get Harvest a good harvest which is how you both uh survived on food and also how you provided for your family by making trade with a good harvest or or or go to B go to Bale for uh fertility so you can have children so really these Idols are set up to take you to a God who provide you what you want in your heart what you desire you go to this God and this God will provide it.
For you that is how idol worship works so they bring the Ark of the Covenant in before deeon which again I think is a little bit of a flex to show we have won and in their arrogance and in their idol worship we're going to see this does not go unpunished verse three when the people of ashdod Rose early the next day behold deeon had fallen faced downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord we'll stop there I like to imagine that they probably are celebrating the night before they just beat the Israelites they bed them they took the ark they probably celebrated lots of drinking they wake up the next morning wiping.
The sleep from their eyes and then they they go let's go look at let's go look at the Ark of the Covenant let's go see it before our God and when they get there what they see is that deeon has fallen on his face face now note the imagery here fallen on his face before the Ark of the Covenant this false God is in submission to the one true God this is the beginning of their punishment this is the beginning of their judgment and this is what they're going to.
See even more of they needed to be reminded out the gate and what they're going to continue to be reminded of is that they aren't the ones that actually won the victory that that's what we saw last week God gives the victory to them he defeats his own people this is an act of judgment against the Israelites so they didn't win the Victory and they're starting to get arrogant and prideful about this victory that they were given and they need to be held in check.
When I play with my kids sometimes I do let them win every now and then I let them lose a lot because I'm not the kind of dad that's just like oh yeah buddy you're going to win like come on you go it's like that no kids need to learn to lose it builds character but if you do it too much it destroys their spirit so there's got to be some times where they win but sometimes if they win they get a little bigheaded and that's.
When I destroy them just decimate them so they know who's the boss they know and the Philistines have not learned that yet they about to learn that pick up in verse end of verse three it says so they took Deon put him back in his place which again the imagery there imagine a God so powerful he needs his Idol lifted back into place verse four but when they Rose early on the next morning behold deeon had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the.
Lord and the head of Deon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold only the trunk of Deon was left to him so I imagine they wake up the next morning little less cocky little more hesitant go towards the house of deeon and what they see is frightening deon's head decapitated off on the threshold hands cut off on the threshold and it's like oh we we have a problem only his trunk remains which just for clarity when I read trunk my mind just goes to elephant trunk not that this is body trunk.
Okay other versions make sure that you know this is the Torso so just he's a torso no head no hands falling on the threshold this is uh a u when ancients used to win battles what they would do is they would literally they would they would cut off heads as a head count literal head count and cut off hands to so this is this is how many people we killed in battle and this is a picture of that I've just destroyed your or false.
God and his head is on the threshold and this left such an impression on the Philistines when it says verse 5 says this is why the priest of deeon and all who enter the house of deeon do not tread on the threshold of deeon in ashdod to this day so as they recounting the story it's like this is why they're so superstitious they skip over the threshold they remember what the God of the Israelites did to deeon beheaded them cut his hands off and it still fearfully rules the people to that Day verse six we.
See that now God is taking the fight to the people the hand of the Lord was Heavy against the people of ashdod and he was terrified and Afflicted them with tumors both ashdod and its territory okay so now they're starting to wake up and starting to see every day that they're developing tumors and after the dismantling of deeon and after they get these tumors that fear is starting to set in even more so because listen a tumor is is unnerving it doesn't matter what century you live in that's not something you want to.
See and I think I think we're a little unfamiliar with this because I think in our culture we catch tumors more quickly before they actually develop into physical you can see them we have good medicine uh I was in Dominican Republic years ago in a mission trip and I saw a woman who was very poor and she was begging for money and she had a grapefruit sized tumor on her neck and it's like that happens where you don't have good medicine the tumors keep growing and they can be painful they're certainly frightening have all types of complications that are happening and the people are afraid and also again they're not they're not stupid.
Because sometimes we have this historical arrogance because if it was just one person you think isolated event when it's all the people they know there's a common cause and they know who the common cause is they know it is the Lord so we pick up verse 7 it says when the men of ashdod saw how things were they said the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us for his hand is hard against us and against deeon our.
God they know who was doing this they know who chopped up Deon they know who is in afflicting them with tumors they have messed up this is like the the schoolyard bully that picks on the kid that's been taking like six years of Jiu-Jitsu he's just been gearing up for this day it is not going well for the Philistines they have messed up and it's going to continue to go poorly for them so verse eight they so they sent and gathered together all the Lords of the Philistines and said what shall we do with the Ark of the.
God of Israel so they get all the leaders together the Lords of the Philistines these five cities and they're like what what should we do they answered let the Ark of the God of Israel be brought around to gath so they brought the Ark of the God of Israel there so again ashdod gath Gaza ashalon ekron these five major cities in philistia and they decide this is going to gath now I don't know if it's because Gaff drew the short stick or they just were the weaker one and it's like you're taking them I don't know.
If they in their arrogance were like we'll take him on I don't know how they made this decision but they made a poor one and it is now going to gath and this is not going to go well verse 9 but after they had brought it around the hand of the Lord was against the city causing a very great panic and he Afflicted the men of the city both young and old so that tumors broke out on them so the same thing happens in gath they're Afflicted there're being tumors breaking out over everyone and they're like this the ark cannot stay here.
Verse 10 so they sent the Ark of God to ekran one of the other cities but as soon as the Ark of God came to ekran the people of ekran cried out they have brought around to us the Ark of God of Israel to kill us and our people people so like they catch wind of the Ark showing up and outside the city they're like no you are not bringing the ark into this city we are going to die and at this point they have to get get the team back together get the Lords of the Philistines back together to make a decision.
Verse 11 they sent therefore and gathered together all the Lords of the Philistines and said send away the Ark of the God of isra Israel and let it return to its own place that it may not kill us and our people for there was a deadly Panic throughout the whole city the hand of God was Heavy there which again that's another another little wrinkle we get to see it wasn't just tumors and death there's a panic so great it's deadly I don't know.
If that's like yelling fire in a crowded theater or if they were just struck dead and fear but the Panic is also judgment that's how afraid they are of the Lord and then it says the men who did not die were struck with tumors and the city and the Cry of the city went up to heaven so they make the decision the ark has to has to go back we have messed up they thought they could capture the ark tame carry make it theirs is not going to happen and we're going to learn next week how they send the ark back once they are making really making up.
For their massive mistake all right so that's chapter 5 that's the story and there's something that's abundantly clear when you read this story and that is that God is greater than idols and Idols fail it's so clear God is greater than idols and Idols fail and what happens for us sometimes again I think we're in danger of of reading this story and then saying how primitive and stupid for them to not only just bow down and pay homage to a stone statue.
But to think they could do that to the Lord I mean what a foolish and silly people and in doing that we will distance ourselves from the story in a way that we think we're wiser and somehow better but the reality is is that we are not we are not wiser we are not better we do some of the same practices we are just more sophisticated and modernized in how we do this and for the rest of our time I want us to.
See that clearly I want us to see that we have our own ways of worshiping Idols in the place of God and that we need to see that God actually is greater than the idols that we worship and that those Idols in pursuing them will only fail us so in order to understand this you need to understand what idol worship is for us Idols are created things and it is worshiping these created things in the place of the Creator okay and worship is devotion it is giving your your time and your energy and your talents and your money and your heart towards something and idol worship is towards created things in the place of the.
Creator and by the time you get to uh the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 14 we start to see when you read Ezekiel 14 he talks about taking Idols into your heart and what we see is is that Idols is taking creative things into your heart to Worship in the place of God the Theologian John Calvin uh in commenting on this talks about our hearts as Idol making factories that we will chase after created things to satisfy us to fulfill us to bring us joy to bring us provision in the place of.
God and when you think about that as a construct of how that place out in our lives what you will start to see is that we do this with creative things all the time that we run to created things with a type of devotion that is worship that is only supposed to be given to the one true God we do this with lots of things we do this with money I mean how many people this week watch the stock market crash read fears of recession and checked their portfolios over and over and over again check checking bank accounts thinking about how to always how to make money and getting angry and anxious and depressed.
When you don't have enough of it and when you start to evaluate your soul and yours your approach to money you start to realize there's a type of devotion and commitment to this that is elevated to the place of Creator where that's getting some of your best energy in life and it reveals that you worship money you've made an idol out of a created thing this happens with riches the so much of life becomes about accumulating things what's the point of living.
If you can't have creature comfort if you can't have the newest this the newest that there there's a old sermon illustration that you don't see a U-Haul behind hearse right because you can't take it with you that's been used for like decades I'm sure that goes back to baptist churches in the 40s maybe not the U-Haul part but waging something okay and the idea there is that you can't take it with you but what I've heard in the past few years is a popularized version of that that teaches.
Well you don't see you whole B Earth so I mean you better enjoy it now you can't take it with you you got to got to spend it while you got it and I'm it's like oh man we've like we've taken like Parables that we've used in sermons and made them that have elevated riches to the place of God we do this with all types of things do it with sex that sex becomes something that you think about that you obsess about that you day dream about that you mine and search online over and over and over again that.
So much about life isn't worth living if you can't fulfill your sexual desires that's been elevated to a place in our culture and in our hearts and it's getting devotion it's getting affection it's getting energy that's only been meant and was designed to be given to the Lord we do this with success that so much of our energy and best energy in life is about being successful and that might for a lot of people that's that's in the workplace so much.
So that like you put all of your best energy into how you work and how you do your job that when you get home you might have responsibilities but you just check out because you've done your job but so much of your best energy is is trying to achieve success and if you don't get it you're angry you're depressed you're sad you're bitter maybe even angry at the Lord God why haven't you given me fill in the blank contentment is always Out Of Reach this is what we do this is what Humanity has always done we will take created things which by the way some of them are neutral there's nothing wrong with money in.
Itself there's nothing wrong with success success in itself and we elevate it to the place of God and we pursue it and we worship it and we need to so clearly see that God does not share the throne with created things Our God does not share that space with creation he demands to be worshiped alone and here's the beauty of it when we realize that that God Alone is is worthy of that type of worship and that typee of devotion when we realize that.
And then we start to chase after God that is where you actually experience fulfillment and joy and satisfaction and so many of the things that the idols in our life seem that they might provide but you keep running after that's why this house is not enough we need this house that's why this vehicle is not enough we need this that's why this type of family is not enough we need this that's why this sex life is not enough we need this.
But we once we realize that actually what God is worthy of my worship and I could be most satisfied in him that's when You' realized where true goodness is actually found and Pascal's uh illustration on this from centuries ago about the God-shaped hole in our hearts that you try to fill in with created things still stands today there things that you try to fill in your life that only a this God-sized hole that only the the Lord is meant to fulfill.
But once you realize that and you experience the Lord and are satisfied in him it's wonderful It's a Wonderful reality to live in and if you've been convinced of this this is good and then you can start the path of repentance towards not worshiping idols and worshiping the one true God but just take the example of success that I just talked about that if you come to the realization yeah no every promotion every business I've started every every every that I've gotten is never actually fulfilled.
But I want to worship God I want to be Delight I want to Delight in the Lord that yes that never that never fills me up it only fails me I want God I'm going to do it like 2025 is the year that'll make the shift and I'm going to schedule a few more vacations I'm going to put my phone on do not disturb like I'm doing it I'm doing the things and listen those are good things and those certainly can be a part of uh the equation.
But what you will realize is is that if you just start making shifts like that I'm going to change this right here and change this behavior and do this right here and take this out and insert this that when you do that what you might realize is is that you will automatically default back into patterns of being a alcoholic and and and chasing after success and you'll wonder but I tried and I and I'm not changing why do I keep pursuing success with worship like why do I Elevate this over and over again and what I want to push on is that we need to really.
See the reason behind the reason we need to see the why behind the why here because all those things those shifts you can make in your life and if you worship sex and pornography is a part of that and you can put filters on your phone you can get a dumb phone you can not you can drop your Netflix account you can do all the things but if you don't get at the reasons behind why you operate and why you chase after created things it's going to be difficult it's going to be trying to treat a tumor a brain tumor with a Tylenol you're just treating symptoms and you got to get to the core.
Of the issue and one of the one of the the things that we have taught and continue to teach that we find to be incredibly helpful in understanding ourselves and our pursuit of Idols is a concept called Deep Idols it it's it's called Deep Idols now you can't chap inv verse this you ain't going to find that in third Corinthians like this is this is a helpful approach approach we got from uh from Tim Keller he got it from gotam Dave powellson.
But this is a helpful approach to uh idolatry that gets at the reason behind the reason the idol beneath the idol and how he summarizes this is that there's four deep idols and again you could come up with any system I think to help understand why we pursue the things we pursue but we stuck with this one and we've seen it be incredibly fruitful in the lives of our Church family as we walk through this but he reduces down these deeper level desires to four deep idols and they are Comfort approval power and control Comfort approval power and control these four deep Idols are the reason behind the reason these are the Deep desires that.
We should ultimately find in the Lord we should find our approval in the Lord our comfort in the Lord but it is the reason why so many of us chase after these creat things so take success as the example that we're using right now if you want to understand why you're chasing after success and why that's your default node this is a helpful framework to be able to understand that so if you do the soul workor of investigating and asking these questions and prayerfully coming before the.
Lord and and and and asking the Lord to reveal this and he reveals that really it's Comfort idolatry this deep deep Idol of comfort is the reason it's the root behind what is growing beneath above ground and bearing this bad fruit in your life that when you come to that realization with success you might confess I am a workaholic so that I can play hard I work hard so I can play hard and that's on the weekends but that's also I work.
So hard now so that I can be comfortable both now and also in retirement I'm trying to retire early so I can have 30 years to have a catamaran in the Gulf of a me America Mexico that's what I that's my life and if I can just have that type of comfort I will put success above everything because that is the good life and my hope is we' be confronted in the Gospel and realizing that you'll never be satisfied and I also would hope to be confronted.
If even if that's your goal even as pertains to retirement that you would reframe your understanding of retirement where do you see retirement in the Bible that you can go to the gulf or the mountains and live it up for 20 30 years I some of our folks folks that are ending retirement the things I'm pushing on right now is to say what would it look like for you to use the next 10 15 20 25 years to the glory of Christ and sure you're going to slow down and you should and sure you might not work that cre anymore you you your body's not going to be able to.
But how wonderful would it be as you slow down to still give your time and your energy towards devoting yourself to the Lord anyways I'll introduce you to a guy named John Piper he'll you'll love him he will wreck your retirement plans anyways Comfort let me get back let me get back on track approval all right so if you come to the conclusion that you have approval idolatry in your heart that's a deep level desire for you you may confess I'm a workaholic.
Because I'm so afraid to let anyone down they'll think less of me they won't respect me I got to please my boss I got to make sure my co-workers approve of me and ultimately the reason behind this is to be liked to be approved of you see how that's different than Comfort once you start to understand the reasons in your own heart that maybe the reason that you slave so hard for success is because you don't find your approval in the.
Lord but in people this happens with power idolatry maybe you come to the conclusion that I have this deep Idol of power and you might confess I'm a workaholic so I can get to the top cuz I'm so sick and tired of answering to superiors who are idiots and I'm so sick and tired of bosses who don't know how to run a company I'm going to build my own company I'm going to start my own business I'm going to make CEO and no one's going to tell me how to do my job anymore.
Because I know best and you have this realization your heart that says oh no the reason I work so hard and give that my best energy is because that's what I really want as opposed to seeing God as the seed of power and the king and we work unto him and that's who we're truly in submission to and submission to anyone is actually a practice ultimately of submitting to the Lord you might realize that control deep idolatry Reigns in your heart and you may come to this confession that says.
God I'm a workaholic because I think no one can do my job like me I've got to have my hands in the steering wheel and if I don't everything falls apart they need me there and I and I got to be the one that holds it all together if I don't hold it all together it's just everything's going to fall apart that no one can do it quite like me and when you start to understand these deeper reasons for why we chase after these created things you can start to begin to speak truth into those things.
So take success and take the same deep idols and the after confessing the sin you run to the Lord as a having Comfort idolatry and say Lord I don't need to keep working like this so that I can maximize joy and pleasure on the weekend I don't need to work so hard and run myself into the ground so I can have this retirement that I probably shouldn't be idolizing in the first place this something that our culture has given us but the Bible doesn't.
Lord I want to find my comfort in you Lord help me find my comfort in you so that I can work in a way that honors you that isn't chasing after comfort that if you have approval idolatry you come to the Lord and say God I don't need to work for my boss's approval I don't need my co-workers approval not enough likes not enough emails that recognize me not enough is going to ever satisfy me I'll find my approval in you.
Because you look at me and are satisfied because of the righteousness of Christ that's credited to my account God I look at you and I'm thankful that you approved Pro of me not because of my good works because of Jesus Christ and what he's done for me therefore I will seek to glorify you and I will not work for them if you have power idolatry you say God I don't need to get to the top I don't have to start my own business to be.
Okay because you're the Sovereign King who rules over all things and I will in in in what is hard for me submit to someone that I don't think does this as well as I do because it's good for my soul because old timely I work unto you that if you have control idolatry you might need to after you've made your confession run to Christ and say I don't God have to keep it all together Perfection is not the goal faithfulness is and I'll be faithful to what you've given me.
God take my hands off the wheel I don't have to be so controlling all the time I don't have to hold all things together because God you are sovereign and in control and I submit to you and releasing this before you that is what we have to do in order to see what's happening and my hope is that we would now having said that some of you are like that's great that's the 18th time I've heard that in the seven years of being in this Church like I I I I appreciate that and I've heard de idals and I know I know what mine are and what I would push on is.
When is the last time that you thought about your sin in light of deep idolatry when is the last time that when you got angry like this happens to me like I I teach this stuff I counsel with this stuff and all of a sudden days go by and I've been angry about a thing and I'm like why am I so angry and then finally the Lord just reveals and it's like oh yeah yeah I can understand how my proval idolatry and my control idolatry and interaction with one another affect how I respond here.
Now I'm angry here and anxious here oh yeah are we doing this I would also suggest people change and guess what you might have developed some new ones possible you may have worked for some really not great people for a very long time and power was never a thing but now it is you should continue to think through this even if you've heard this over and over again we need to do the soul work to understand what's happening beneath the surface.
So that when we read stories like this we we won't look at their Devotion to deeon and think it's so silly what we I don't I can't connect with this yes you can yes we can we just have more modern and sophisticated ways of doing it that when you read the story of how Deon falls on his face and they got to lift him up it's like how foolish is that they Falls they it's beheaded what do they do like take the Philistine 3,000 years ago form of cement and put it back together how foolish he must have looked tied all up together.
But that's what we do we take the created things in our lives and we prop them up again and again and again the Lord does work in our hearts and we keep running back to them again and again and again we do it with money we do it with sex and marriage and family and riches and success and friendship and and pleasures and we keep propping them back up we keep going back to them over and over again if I can just have more money I'll be.
Okay and it's like no you won't if I just find the right friends I'll be okay no you won't if I just if I find the right person if I find the right marriage if I can find someone else then I'll be Satisfied no you won't they never satisfy they always fail and we need to see see that so clear that God is greater and he stands before us saying worship me alone be satisfied in me alone Delight in me alone and our.
God calls us to do this and my hope is that as he knocks down the idols in our lives that we wouldn't foolishly go back to picking them up that we'd understand what's happening in our souls and the moment that we start to chase after we go no no I'll be satisfied with him because God is greater B's going to come up and we're going to take the Lord's Supper as we prepare for this my invitation to some of you is that some of you possibly have only ever worshiped created things this isn't a struggle between your worship of.
God and created things where you Haven to repent of Idols you've actually never repented you've never trusted fully in Christ you know what the Philistines should have done when when when they heard about the Israelites they should have gone and said wait you have one God and he did that to the Egyptians tell me more and upon learning they just said we'll go burned down all of these other Idols I don't want those I want you I'm not going to run to baller to to Deon to get satisfied I want to be truly satisfied in you and the.
God of the universe defeated death by dying on a cross for our sins and rising from the grave to open our eyes to a life that is not enslaved to created things but worships the one true God and is satisfied in him and that's offered to you so do not take the Lord's Supper but take Christ and believe in him and for those of us that are Christians that continually are enamored by creative things we have an opportunity right now in our hearts to prayerfully discern where are we chasing after created things how do we need to practice and believe that.
God is better when you are ready you may come to the table joyfully knowing God pays with his blood for our idolatry but he invites us back in to being fully satisfied in him so when you are ready and you've done business before the Lord in your heart come to the table if gluten-free in that corner and upstairs as well let me pray Heavenly Father may you go to work in our hearts in a way that so compel us to worship you alone may you destroy the created things we've set up in our hearts in a way where we don't run back where we.
See them lying on the ground beheaded and without hands and think no I want you instead but God we need you to work in our hearts may you do it may you be most satisfying above all things we ask in Jesus name amen.