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There’s idols and there’s grace. You can cling to the idol and you can miss the grace. You

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can forfeit the idol and you can receive the grace. Think of the grace that could be yours.

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Now what’s the worthless idol? What’s so good in your life that you would forfeit what

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God could do, if you were unreservedly placed into his hands?

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Welcome to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick and today we’re continuing

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our message, The God Who Will Not Tolerate Rivals, looking at idolatry in Micah in chapter

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five. And Colin, we understand idolatry is anything we put in the place of God, but today

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we’re going a lot deeper.

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Yes, that’s right, it’s a good place to begin though. It’s really worshipping created things

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rather than the Creator. That’s a definition from Romans in chapter one. And so we looked

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at what idolatry is last time. We looked a little bit at the question why do idols exist,

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because we’re not seekers as much as we think, we’re hide and seekers from God, we hide from

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him as often as we profess to seek Him. Today, we’re going to look at some actual idols that

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can easily be set up in our lives. You know, when we hear the word idol, you might think

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of something that’s very, very remote, you know, a metal image. Well, actually, it’s

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a lot closer to home than that. And that’s what we’re going to see in the message today.

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And we’re going to find how these idols can be smashed and brought down and God restored

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to his rightful place as the sovereign Lord of our lives.

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So the messages from Micah Chapter five. So I hope you’ll be able to join us there as

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we continue the message, the God who will not tolerate rivals. He has Colin.

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Now at first sight, I know that the subject of idolatry may seem remote from us. But I

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think as we get into this together, you will find as I have found again, that it actually

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comes very close to home, indeed. I want to approach this subject by asking seven questions

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that I think will help us understand what God is seeing here and what it means for us

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today.

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The first is very obvious. What is idolatry? And the very simple definition would be this.

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That idolatry is worshiping created things rather than the creator. You’ll find that

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definition in Romans chapter one and verse 25 where Paul speaks about those who have

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exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather

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than the creator. That’s what idolatry is. Worshiping created things rather than the

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creator.

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Here’s the second question. Why do idols exist? And why do idols exist? Two reasons.

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First, they exist because of our attraction to God. See, every human being is made in

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the image of God. That is true of the most messed up, dysfunctional, twisted person you

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can think of. And if the most messed up, dysfunctional, twisted person you can think of at this moment

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happens to be yourself then it’s true of you, so that is good news. You are made in

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image of God and nothing can ever change that. It’s true of every person and every culture

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and every generation and that is why wherever you go in the world, in history or in geography,

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you find human beings engaged in some kind of spiritual search. It can’t be stamped out,

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communism tried that and of course failed abysmally. There is a deep hunger for God

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that is imprinted in the soul of every person ever born into this world. A God-shaped whole

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at the center of every life that by definition only God can fill, but that’s only half

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of the answer. Why do idols exist? because of our attraction to God which gets us kind

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of searching, but secondly because of our avoidance of God. You see any thoughtful person

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who looks at this world will quickly see, looking at the spectrum of religion that there

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obviously is some kind of spiritual search going on, it’s everywhere, but at the same

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time any thoughtful person would be struck by the fact that there does not seem to be

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much coherence about this search. It’s all over the place. Now why is that? If there’s

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one search why’s the search all over the place? Well the reason for this is that alongside

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our deep attraction to God human beings are also experts in avoiding God. So here is this

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strange enigma about our human nature created in the image of God and yet fallen into our

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sinfulness. Because these things both constitute the reality of who we are we on the one hand

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seek after God but at the same time hide from him. The nature of the human condition is

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that we are hide and seekers! And you got to know that there is no better place for

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hiding from God than religion. Because being religious allows you to think that you are

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spiritual while all the time your bobbing and weaving and avoiding real confrontation

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with God in your life.

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Third question, what forms does idolatry take? Now let’s look a little more closely at these

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verses that are before us here. Professor Walter Kaiser points out four dimensions of

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idolatry here in Micah chapter 5. The first is self-help. That is a form of idolatry in

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verse 10, in that day declares the Lord I will destroy your horses from among you…

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and demolish your chariots.

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Now horses and chariots in the Old Testament were usually associated with a spirit of self-confidence,

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we can do it! Believe in yourself, you’ve got the horses, that kind of thing.

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Well you see that’s idolatry because the truth is that my next breath, my finishing this

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sermon depends on the upholding hand of God’s sustaining power that keeps my breathing moment

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by moment and keeps you breathing, even right now. I do not have life in myself, only Christ

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has that. In a world that tells us there’s nothing you can’t do, what room is there

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for God in your life? See it’s idolatry. Secondly self-defense, I will destroy the

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cities of your land and tear down your strongholds. Verse 11, here’s the security

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that you build for yourself, the cities, the strongholds. Little different for us

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in our day tends to be financial doesn’t it? The security I built for myself, my

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portfolio, the career, the achievements that have put me in a position of

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strength. It’s idolatry to put your trust in that.

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Third, self-deception. I will destroy your witchcraft, and you will no longer cast

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spells. I think it was G.K. Chesterton who said that when men stopped believing in

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God, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything. It’s very perceptive

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comment and speaks widely to our culture today. The spiritual search is all over

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the map because so many have lost confidence and trust in the living God

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who’s made himself known in Jesus Christ. And then there’s self-worship. Verse 13-

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I will destroy your carved images, your sacred stones from among you. You will no

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longer bow down to the work of your hands. What I’ve achieved, the work of my

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hands, what I’ve become, the work of my hands, the giftedness I’ve been given,

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what I’m able to offer in the marketplace, trust in these things-

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idolatry. Now here’s the fourth question- why is idolatry so offensive to God? And

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the answer to that question is simply that idolatry is a theft of identity. You

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see God alone is God, don’t know if you ever thought about this but everything

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in the created order belongs to a class. There are planets, there are fish, there

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are birds, there are animals, there are humans, there are angels and so forth

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and so on- but everything in the created order belongs to a class. But God is in a

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class of his own. Now what idolatry wants to do in our

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time of course is to say that there is a class called God and anything that

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claims to be God belongs in that class. That is completely opposite to what the

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God of the universe the Creator says to us, to whom will you compare me who is

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my equal. He is in a class of his own and that means that anyone or anything that

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wants to pose as God is stealing the identity that belongs only to him.

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Idolatry is a theft of identity. During the summer my son, Andrew, was working

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selling books in Rhode Island. He got into a routine in which, early in the day,

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he went training. Changed, and showered and so forth before he went running at

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the YMCA. One day he put his stuff in the locker just a few moments while he was

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in the shower, came back, got dressed and discovered that his bank card disappeared

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from his wallet. He did the right thing called the bank. Found that within an

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hour whoever had taken the card had spent several hundred dollars. That’s

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identity theft. Taking what belongs to another person as if it were your own.

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Now whenever anyone or anything in the created order takes the place of first

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importance, you’re dealing with the ultimate case of identity theft. Only god

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is God. I am the Lord he says and beside me there is no other. To whom will you

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compare me? And, the offense of idolatry is that something or someone in the

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created order dares to pose in the place of God. You’re listening to Open the

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Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And we’re going to pause our message briefly there

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but we’ll be back in just a moment. The message today is from Micah in chapter

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5 and it’s called The God Who Will Not Tolerate Rivals. All about the problem of

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idolatry, and don’t forget if you ever miss one of our messages or if you want

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and listen again you can always do that by coming online to our website

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openthebible.org.uk. There you can find all of our previously broadcast

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messages and you can also find us as a podcast if that’s a better way for you

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to keep up with Pastor Colin’s teaching, and those are available on all the major

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podcasting sites either by following a link from our website or by going

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directly to the podcast site and searching for Open The Bible UK

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Back to the message now here’s Colin

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What will God do with the idols?

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That’s the fifth question the answer that Micah gives us very simply is

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that God will destroy every idol and will vindicate his own name.

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He speaks of a day coming

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when God will and let’s focus on what he says here

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I hope you have it open in front of you will you just look at the verbs just to

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see how clearly God speaks here, what he says he will do, verse 10, I will destroy

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demolish verse 11 destroy, tear down, verse 12 destroy, verse 13 destroy, verse 14

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uproot and demolish, verse 15 take vengeance, not the most popular words

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but that is what God says and I want you to notice not only the verbs here but I

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want you to notice the subject. God is telling us that this is something he

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will do, notice it, I will destroy your horses, I will destroy your chariots, I

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will destroy your cities, I will destroy your witchcraft, I will destroy your

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carved images, I will uproot your asherah poles, I will take vengeance and anger and

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wrath, just look down these verses, I will, I will, I will, six times, I’ll do it.

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Now by the way, that’s very important, God does not tell us to do these things

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He’s not calling us to direct action, he says there will come a day when

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I will do it myself, it’s very important, very important, our warfare is spiritual

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The destruction of the idols, God himself will take care of, that’s what he says

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but what he says is that there will come a day when he himself will take direct

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action and will dethrone all other gods. It’s a wonderful story in the Old Testament

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that gives us a picture of God’s direct action you can read it in 1 Samuel

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chapter 5, it’s the story of when the ark of the Lord was captured by the

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Philistines, do you remember this, and it was taken off to the temple of Dagon

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The Philistine God. And they put the ark of the Lord, the enemies of God’s people

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put the ark of the Lord on a shelf in the temple of Dagon shut it up for the

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night, the attendant went home at a lovely night’s sleep and then came back

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in the morning and guess what he found? that in the presence of the ark of the

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Lord, Dagon inexplicably had fallen off his perch

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the idol was on the floor, so the attendant, rather disturbed by this

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picked the idol up, dusted it off, put it back on its stand… the next morning he

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came back, guess what had happened? the idol had fallen off the stand, only

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this time, its head had smashed on the floor, and its palms were lying severed

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from the body. God himself, will dethrone all the other gods and will be glorified

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throughout the universe for all eternity, he will vindicate his own name,

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that’s the message of Micah in chapter 5, taken up in the New Testament of course

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where we’re told it this way, every eye will see, every knee will bow and every

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tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, do you

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believe that? So here’s the sixth question, what should we do about our

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idols? The answer is very simply we got to turn from them. You have this

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beautifully expressed in First Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9

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where Paul writes about some believers and he describes the miracle that has

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happened in their lives, he says you turned to God from idols to serve the

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true God, that’s what we’ve got to do. John, the Apostle writes in his New

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Testament letters to Christian believers he says little children here’s what

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you’re got to do, flee from idols. This is for us. You were made for a

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God-centered life, you were made to glorify Him and to enjoy Him from

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forever, turning from idols means letting God at last be God in your life. It’s to

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recognize what will be the eternal reality of the universe and to let it

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begin in you right now. That you worship Him, that you love Him for who He is and

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no longer seek to use Him as a means to an end because trying to use God as a

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means to an end is of course just a form of idolatry. John Piper makes this point

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I think quite brilliantly. He says, I cannot say to my wife I feel a strong

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delight in you so that you will make me a nice meal. That is not the way that

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delight works. It terminates on her. It does not have a nice meal in view. I

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cannot say to my son I love playing ball with you so that you will cut the grass

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if my heart really delights in playing ball with him. That delight cannot be

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performed as a means of getting him to do something. See, if you say to your wife

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or your son that you love them because you want a nice meal or because you want

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them to cut the grass…that’s not love. We have another word for it. Manipulation.

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Try and do that with God? You’re putting yourself in the place of God trying to

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manipulate him that’s idolatry. So, when something that you want from God

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becomes more important than God himself to you, you slip into idolatry. You come

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to see God as a provider of your wish list that is in a higher place than God

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himself. Well, then it’s time to turn from idols.

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Maybe that leaves you saying, well I can see that. I can see I’m much more of an

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idolater than I ever thought I was. I can see that I need to turn from idols but

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how in the world am I going to do that? Do I have a very strong hold in my life?

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There’s a one-word answer to that question, how can I turn from idols. And

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it’s simply the word grace. Maybe you’re drawn to God right now as the Spirit

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speaks to you, but something inside you holds back you say yeah I am drawn but

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how do I overcome this avoidance that I see within me? Listen that is why Jesus

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Christ has come into the world. He came to seek and save the lost. He told a

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story about lost sheep. Sheep wandering off so far that the sheep couldn’t find

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its way back but the Shepherd goes and gets the sheep and and brings it back.

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Christ came into the world because he loves you. So he came to bring you back

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to seek and to save you from your idolatry. He gave himself on the cross so

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that our idolatry might be cleansed and forgiven.

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He came so that by his Spirit you would be weaned off self love and became a

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true worshiper and lover of God for his own sake. He reaches out to embrace you

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even where you’re hiding from him in the trees. I’ll tell you, it takes a lot of

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energy to go on resisting love like that. It reaches out to you wherever you’re

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hiding today. So what’s your idol? What’s the created thing that you’ve put in the

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place of God? Is it relationships, career, reputation, personal goals, some pleasure?

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Just before the Book of Micah, there’s the story of Jonah. Great story about a

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man who had a great ministry. Things were going just fine in his life until God

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upset him. Jonah didn’t like what was happening in his life, so he put himself

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in the place of God and started moving in the opposite direction, then things

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didn’t go so well. Eventually, they found himself in the

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stomach of a great fish and that’s where he came to his senses. He began to pray

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and in Jonah 2.8, this is what he said, Those who cling to worthless idols

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forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Those who cling to worthless idols

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can forfeit the grace that could be theirs. There’s idols and there’s grace.

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You can cling to the idol and you can miss the grace. You can forfeit

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the idol and you can receive the grace. Think of the grace that could be

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yours! Saving grace. Redeeming grace. Grace to make you more like Jesus.

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Grace to fulfill a service, for ministry. Gifts of grace. Think of the

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grace that could be yours. Now what’s the worthless idol?

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What’s so good in your life that you would forfeit what God could do if

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you were unreservedly placed into His hands? See, Jonah had been a

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believing man for years. But in his darkest hour,

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he came to the place of seeing, I’ve been a fool. I’ve been clinging to a

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worthless idol and I’ve lost out. I can’t live like that any longer.

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And God’s grace reached out to him in the belly of a fish. And then,

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when the fish brought him up the next morning on the beach,

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he moved forward into a new life, a whole new chapter and his usefulness to God.

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That could happen for you today.

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Challenging words today, God will not tolerate rivals. So we have to find a way to get

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rid of those idols in our lives. You’re listening to Open the Bible,

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with Pastor Colin Smith and the message today,

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The God Who Will Not Tolerate Rivals, part of our series,

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Close Encounters with the Living God. And don’t forget if you ever miss one of the

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series, or if you want to go back and listen again

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you can do that by coming online to our website, Openthebible.org.uk

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Or find us as a podcast, and those are available on all the major podcasting sites.

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Search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners,

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that’s people just like you. And if that’s something you’re considering doing this

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month we have an offer for you.

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If you’re able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible, in the amount

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of five pounds per month or more we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy of Kevin

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DeYoung’s book, Impossible Christianity.

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Colin what would you hope that someone reading this book will take away from it?

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Well, Kevin DeYoung does a brilliant job of distinguishing between the

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life that God calls us to lead and the sometimes impossible burdens that we

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place on ourselves and that’s why it’s such a helpful in such a liberating book.

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For example when he talks about prayer he talks about the importance of prayer

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and anyone who really walks with the Lord knows that we often feel

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that we need to pray more.

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We can live under a burden of saying, have I ever prayed enough?

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and have I ever prayed as sincerely and deeply as I ought?

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And we end up putting burdens on ourselves that can easily make following Christ

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feel like a joyless experience.

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And so I found Impossible Christianity to be really helpful in just restoring

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a sense of perspective, a sense of peace to the soul

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and it’s right out of the Scriptures, it’s faithful to what God says

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but it brings to us a sense of a life that is made possible

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by the grace of God as we follow hard after the Lord Jesus Christ.

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We’ll we’d love to send you a copy of Kevin de Younge’s book

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to say thank you for setting up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible

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in the amount of £5 per month or more.

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Full details of this offer on our website www.openthebible.org.uk

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For Open the Bible and pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick

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and I hope you’ll be able to join us again, next time.

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Some people feel that the Lord has let them down.

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That He’s placed an intolerable burden on them.

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Find out how this can lead to faith, next time on Open the Bible.