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The danger of idolatry is one that will not go away for the believer. We must categorize it as the sin that it is, and flee from it by clinging to Jesus.
Definition:
- Idolatry = Loving & following anything other than the one true living God
- 2 flavors of idolatry: Chronic and Acute
Observations:
- Idolatry will rob you of confidence and communion with God
- Idolatry will lead you into sin’s division and death
- Idolatry will leave you unprotected and enslaved
Conclusions: When you love and follow Jesus you will…
- …be given confidence in approaching God for help
- …be kept safe from the death of idolatry that comes from sin, the evil one, and the world
- …be found in Jesus and given understanding to know the true God
Application: Keep yourselves from death in idolatry by…
- What – Praying according to God’s will
#1 – Get to know God, through Jesus, by the Spirit
#2 – Surrender your own will
#3 – Model your prays in Jesus name - How – Praying with dependency upon God
- Who – Praying for each other in our common fight against sin
#1 – You have to know & trust one another
#2 – You have to see successes and failures as communal
1 Peter 5:7
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
Ephesians 3:12
“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Hebrews 10:19-23
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
1 Peter 5:10
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
Ephesians 3:16-21
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
John 14:8-10
“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
John 14:12-14
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
James 5:16
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Psalm 141:5
“Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.”
Proverbs 27:6
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”