WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500 Let's go ahead and go to the word Hosea chapter 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:09.359 13. We're gonna kinda wind down this series. 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:12.759 This is the, next week will be the final installment 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:15.220 from Hosea. Me and my wife are heading out to 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:18.219 Uganda on Thursday. Like heading out to Uganda 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:20.399 like it's down the street or something, right? 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:24.269 Yeah. We are excited about that. And at the end, 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:27.030 once we're all wrapped up and closed, we'll be 00:00:27.030 --> 00:00:30.649 up here at the front and just ask anyone who's 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:32.990 interested or who's moved to come pray for us 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:34.850 because we're going on behalf of Village. We're 00:00:34.850 --> 00:00:37.109 bringing the love of the community to the people 00:00:37.109 --> 00:00:40.469 of Uganda and to see if this opportunity is. 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.740 a right for us to support and pour our heart 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:47.060 and resources into. And so we definitely appreciate 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:51.259 the prayers of sending from Village. But let's 00:00:51.259 --> 00:00:54.740 move forward. Hosea chapter 13, Nick will be 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:56.939 preaching next week. Hosea 14 to wrap it all 00:00:56.939 --> 00:01:00.799 up. We will miss two Sundays. Our hearts will 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.739 be with you even as we're away. But Nick will 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.140 be preaching next week. And so excited for him 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:10.060 to kind of close up the series. Hosea chapter 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:16.260 13, beginning in verse one. When Ephraim spoke, 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.859 there was trembling. He was exalted in Israel, 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.159 but he incurred guilt through Baal and died. 00:01:24.500 --> 00:01:27.140 Now they continue to sin and make themselves 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:30.920 a cast image, idols skillfully made from their 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.260 silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:38.060 say about them. Let the men who sacrifice kiss 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:42.159 the calves Therefore they will be like the morning 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.980 mist like the early dew that vanishes like chaff 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:49.159 blown from a threshing floor or like smoke from 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:54.400 a window I Have been the Lord your God ever since 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.519 the land of Egypt You know no God, but me and 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:01.230 no Savior exists beside me I knew you in the 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:03.549 wilderness, in the land of drought. When they 00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:06.390 had pasture, they became satisfied and they were 00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:09.669 satisfied and their hearts became proud and therefore 00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:14.110 they forgot me. So I will be like a lion to them. 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:16.669 I will lurk like a leopard on the path. I will 00:02:16.669 --> 00:02:19.969 attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs and 00:02:19.969 --> 00:02:23.949 tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will 00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:26.689 devour them like a lioness, like a wild beast 00:02:26.689 --> 00:02:32.199 that would rip them open. This is God's word. 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:36.439 It's cheery, right? It's always the hardest thing 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:38.919 to end there and you're like, okay, I know you're 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:40.439 gonna talk about a lot of things before we talk 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:41.919 about that, but can we talk about that right 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:43.419 now? I kind of want to know what that meant. 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:48.000 We'll get there, okay? How many guys have heard 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.500 the phrase, follow your heart? Follow your heart. 00:02:52.659 --> 00:02:54.960 I mean, whether every Disney movie you can imagine 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.120 or every self -help book that's on the shelf. 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:01.340 every inspirational Instagram post, they all 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:04.060 seem to echo the same message. Just trust your 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:08.939 heart and it will lead you to your truest, bestest 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:16.860 self. But what if that advice is terrible? What 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:20.659 if our hearts aren't reliable guides but are 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:25.580 actually broken compasses? And what do I mean 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:28.080 by heart, right? If I say, follow your heart, 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:30.419 we're obviously not talking about the physical 00:03:30.419 --> 00:03:32.479 muscle that's hopefully kind of beating in your 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:37.939 chest, praise God. You might even think in the 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:40.939 case of Disney that we're talking about the mere 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:45.280 human desire or passion. But actually the heart 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.000 as it's used in the Bible describes the whole 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.259 inner person, the entire inner person, their 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:57.189 mind and their understanding, their will. and 00:03:57.189 --> 00:04:01.289 intentions, their emotions and desires, and then 00:04:01.289 --> 00:04:04.229 all of that and their orientation either toward 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:09.810 God or away from God, toward God or in rebellion 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:14.449 against God. That's the heart as it's used in 00:04:14.449 --> 00:04:17.889 the Bible. And so what does the Bible say? Well, 00:04:17.889 --> 00:04:20.810 in one passage in the Bible talking about the 00:04:20.810 --> 00:04:27.350 heart, it says the heart is more deceitful than 00:04:27.350 --> 00:04:33.629 anything else and incurable who can understand 00:04:33.629 --> 00:04:37.449 it. The heart is more deceitful than anything 00:04:37.449 --> 00:04:43.750 else and incurable who can understand it. The 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:47.189 will and mind and understanding and intentions 00:04:47.189 --> 00:04:50.459 and emotions and desires either oriented toward 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:53.439 devotion toward God or in rebellion against God. 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:55.399 The heart is more deceitful than anything in 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.819 incurable. One version or one translation says 00:04:57.819 --> 00:05:02.100 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:09.100 wicked. Who can discern it? The reformer John 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:12.819 Calvin once said that the human heart is a perpetual 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:17.269 idle factory. It's a perpetual idle factory. 00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:19.430 And that's really where we're gonna kind of sit 00:05:19.430 --> 00:05:22.350 today. And what he meant is that our hearts are 00:05:22.350 --> 00:05:25.889 continually churning out things to worship, things 00:05:25.889 --> 00:05:29.949 to trust, and things to serve. If it isn't money, 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:32.610 then it's success. And if it's not success, then 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:35.209 it's relationships or romance. If it's not romance, 00:05:35.350 --> 00:05:40.759 it's politics or approval or comfort. And what 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.160 we do is we take good things and we turn them 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:48.180 into ultimate things. They become objects of 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:51.939 worship that we expect to save us from meaninglessness, 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:58.279 to save us from fear or save us from dissatisfaction 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:03.420 or guilt or shame, but they can only disappoint. 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:09.240 And not only that, that passage we just, quoted, 00:06:09.579 --> 00:06:13.139 it says that it's deceitful. The heart is deceitful. 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:16.279 And so we don't only make it an ultimate thing 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:19.220 and we do all those things, but we convince ourselves 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:22.079 that our desires and our thoughts and our intentions 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:27.420 are right, good, and even justified. Anyone tracking? 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:31.339 You can think of it like this. Our heart is like 00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:37.240 a GPS with a broken satellite. Instead of leading 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:40.860 us home, it can send us down a dead end or into 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:44.920 a lake somewhere or a dangerous neighborhood 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:51.980 or Bakersfield. How do we get out of here quickly? 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:56.660 You could imagine that. It's like your heart 00:06:56.660 --> 00:06:59.480 is like a factory with a conveyor belt, right? 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.279 And every day the human heart pumps out new shiny 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.050 idols. And there's something like this, if I 00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:12.509 only had that job, dot, dot, dot. Or if I only 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:16.209 had that relationship, or if I only had that 00:07:16.209 --> 00:07:19.990 recognition, and we bow to each new product that 00:07:19.990 --> 00:07:22.370 comes off the conveyor belt like it's going to 00:07:22.370 --> 00:07:24.970 save us if we just have it until the next one 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:30.089 rolls off the assembly line. And that's what 00:07:30.089 --> 00:07:34.069 Hosea is confronting in chapter 13, because Israel, 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:38.139 The nation of Israel never stopped worshiping, 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:43.399 but they did trade the worship of the true, living 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:47.300 God for golden calves. They traded the worship 00:07:47.300 --> 00:07:51.620 of the true, living God for political alliances 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:56.300 or for foreign gods. They followed their hearts, 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.000 their mind, their will, their understanding, 00:07:59.079 --> 00:08:02.939 their desires, and their hearts led them straight 00:08:02.939 --> 00:08:08.430 to ruin. And you know, we're not that different, 00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:13.430 right? Our idols may not be made out of carved 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:16.290 wood or stone or overlaid with gold or silver, 00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:20.850 but our idols are real and our idols are just 00:08:20.850 --> 00:08:26.069 as destructive. Kind of as an outline, I'll give 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:28.189 four points over the course of the time today. 00:08:28.250 --> 00:08:30.569 If you're taking notes, the first one is when 00:08:30.569 --> 00:08:36.710 we trust substitutes, we self -destruct. When 00:08:36.710 --> 00:08:40.509 we trust substitutes, we self -destruct. When 00:08:40.509 --> 00:08:43.529 Hosea opens in chapter 13, he reminds Israel 00:08:43.529 --> 00:08:46.330 of where they once were. And he starts with, 00:08:46.490 --> 00:08:49.269 when Ephraim spoke, and Ephraim is one of the 00:08:49.269 --> 00:08:53.549 tribes and kind of synonymous in Hosea with Israel, 00:08:53.570 --> 00:08:55.850 the whole nation. And so when you hear Israel 00:08:55.850 --> 00:08:57.909 or Ephraim, they're talking about the northern 00:08:57.909 --> 00:09:02.490 kingdom, Israel. It says, when Ephraim spoke, 00:09:02.730 --> 00:09:06.799 there was trembling. He was exalted in Israel, 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:14.080 but he incurred guilt through Baal and died In 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.600 other words Israel was once strong once respected 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.000 once a blessed nation with the hand of God on 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.720 them But something changed something happened 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:30.460 They gave their hearts to substitutes They gave 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:33.139 their hearts over to substitute. And it's tragic 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:34.799 if you actually think about it, because the story 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.519 of Israel is a story of rescue and redemption. 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.539 Israel, who is slaves in Egypt, but the Lord 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:45.419 God, by his miraculous power, calls them out 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:48.600 of Egypt and delivers them. And not only does 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.000 he deliver them in a way that only he could do, 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:53.840 no human could take credit for it, but then he 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.559 takes them, he leads them out into the wilderness. 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:58.639 And while they're in the wilderness, provides 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:00.639 for them and leads them through the wilderness 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:07.720 journey. a fire by night, a pillar of cloud by 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:14.539 day, going with his people and providing. And 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:16.580 through all of that craziness, he brings them 00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:20.080 to a land that he promised them, a place where 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.519 they could dwell and a place where he would dwell 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:26.860 among them and be their God and they would be 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:31.820 his people. And they would live in a covenantal 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:36.490 relationship. a relationship with the one true, 00:10:36.490 --> 00:10:40.730 living, holy Creator God. But like every relationship, 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:44.429 there are terms and stipulations on the covenantal 00:10:44.429 --> 00:10:47.830 relationship. And these terms and stipulations, 00:10:47.830 --> 00:10:51.350 they explain what loyalty to the relationship 00:10:51.350 --> 00:10:54.289 looks like. This is what loyalty looks like in 00:10:54.289 --> 00:10:56.350 this relationship. You might think of them similar 00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:59.730 to vows, right? To have and to hold, in sickness 00:10:59.730 --> 00:11:03.509 and in health, till death do us part. This is 00:11:03.509 --> 00:11:08.279 a vow. a stipulation, a term of the covenant, 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:14.100 what relational faithfulness requires. And so 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:16.039 in the 10 commandments or the 10 sayings, as 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:18.639 they come out of Egypt and the Lord delivers 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.200 to them his word, you have the 10 commandments 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.360 given to Israel. And Israel was given 10 commandments, 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:28.779 four of them. are terms of the covenant related 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:31.600 to relational loyalty to God. What does relational 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.259 loyalty to God in worship look like? And then 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:39.159 there are six terms or stipulations, commandments 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:42.399 that are given that concern God's requirement 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.559 on his people for faithfulness toward one another. 00:11:47.379 --> 00:11:50.039 So God's covenant was not just about a vertical 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:53.149 relationship with him. but that vertical relationship 00:11:53.149 --> 00:11:55.429 would flow out into relationship with one another. 00:11:55.549 --> 00:11:58.029 And so he gave four commands or stipulations, 00:11:58.190 --> 00:12:00.389 terms, for what that looked like vertically, 00:12:00.769 --> 00:12:04.289 and then six for what that looked like in family, 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:07.230 in life, in marriage, in property, in truth telling, 00:12:07.710 --> 00:12:11.269 and in contentment. I don't know why I added 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:17.759 a TH at the end. That was weird. And the first 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.559 two of those terms, the first two of those sayings 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.419 in the 10 commandments, Exodus chapter 20, read 00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:26.740 like this. It says, then God spoke all these 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:29.820 words. I am the Lord your God who brought you 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:32.659 out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of 00:12:32.659 --> 00:12:38.539 slavery. And here's the first term, stipulation, 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:42.879 commandment. Do not have other gods beside me. 00:12:44.259 --> 00:12:47.100 What does relational faithfulness look like? 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.960 It means you do not have other gods besides me. 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:53.320 In marriage, you might say you don't cheat. You 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:56.679 remain faithful to this marriage. That's a stipulation 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:02.259 of the covenant. And then in verse four of 20, 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.320 it says, do not make an idol for yourself, whether 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.259 in the shape of anything in the heavens above 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:09.659 or on the earth below in the waters under the 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:12.960 earth, do not bow in worship to them and do not 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.639 serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.679 God, bringing the consequences of the father's 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:20.500 iniquity on the children to the third and fourth 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:24.000 generation of those who hate me, but showing 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.139 faithful love to a thousand generations of those 00:13:27.139 --> 00:13:32.129 who love me and keep my commandments. What does 00:13:32.129 --> 00:13:34.429 relational faithfulness look like in this covenant 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:39.129 with the God who delivered them? Have no other 00:13:39.129 --> 00:13:43.769 gods beside me Don't make things out of created 00:13:43.769 --> 00:13:49.330 things that substitute for me that stand in for 00:13:49.330 --> 00:13:56.269 me And so what did a Israel do Well, they did 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:59.789 exactly what they're not supposed to do They 00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:01.830 exchanged the God of the covenant the God who 00:14:01.830 --> 00:14:04.889 saved them for images that they could see and 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:07.809 that they could touch images and for wicked and 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:11.590 evil alliances with nations that they could bargain 00:14:11.590 --> 00:14:17.610 with And Hosea says it kind of plainly in verse 00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:22.470 2 he says they kissed the calves They kissed 00:14:22.470 --> 00:14:25.389 the calves. In other words, they had erected 00:14:25.389 --> 00:14:27.970 golden statues or calves, like little trinkets, 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:30.870 like idols. What you would think of as an idol 00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:33.230 is probably a physical item, right? Something 00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:35.490 you would put up on a shelf somewhere and worship, 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:37.990 right? Well, Israel had done that. They had created 00:14:37.990 --> 00:14:41.110 these golden statues, golden calves made out 00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:44.309 of precious metals and set up worship of these 00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:49.350 calves in two cities, in Bethel and in Dan. In 00:14:49.350 --> 00:14:51.509 the northern kingdom and they bowed down to them, 00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:53.850 but they not only bowed down they would kiss 00:14:53.850 --> 00:14:57.830 these idols as They worshiped as a pledge of 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:00.509 their affection a pledge of their allegiance 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:06.549 to it When we put our trust in substitutes we 00:15:06.549 --> 00:15:09.789 don't just dishonor God, but we destroy ourselves 00:15:09.789 --> 00:15:16.350 as well Hosea says that Israel went from exaltation 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:21.740 among the nations to death They trusted their 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:25.840 idols for protection They went to other nations 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.820 believing that these wicked nations would provide 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:30.639 them protection or bring prosperity they trusted 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:34.600 these other things and In the end these other 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:37.419 things just hollowed them out and made them empty 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:42.559 Again John Calvin the reformer once said that 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.360 the evil in our desire typically does not lie 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.519 in what we want But that we want it too much 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:54.059 It's just another way of saying we make good 00:15:54.059 --> 00:15:56.600 things ultimate things and those ultimate when 00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:01.059 they become ultimate things they destroy us And 00:16:01.059 --> 00:16:05.399 that was Israel's story Wanting security is not 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:11.960 wrong, right? I Locked my doors most nights We 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:13.840 live in the hills and I have a shotgun next to 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:22.139 my bed But I locked the doors most nights Wanting 00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:26.919 security is not wrong but making security ultimate 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:30.519 Whether through idol worship or military power 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:34.620 or some political deal that you You made well 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:40.620 that that led them to ruin You imagine someone 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:44.620 who keeps treating cough drops like their food 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:47.759 You wake up in the morning. It's like I gotta 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.480 have my breakfast a couple cough drops There's 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.100 lunchtime a couple more cough drops, right? Could 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:55.740 you imagine what's going on in that stomach? 00:16:56.259 --> 00:17:01.679 Don't like that's gross But those cough drops 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:05.599 might might kind of Curb the edge off of your 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.640 hunger and make you feel like something's happening 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.039 like you can keep going but a couple days into 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:14.259 your cough drop diet And you're gonna be in a 00:17:14.259 --> 00:17:17.480 pretty bad way a Then a few days later, you're 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:19.359 gonna be a really bad way and pretty soon you're 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.539 gonna be dead, I assume. Someone try it and let 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:33.619 us know. Just kidding. They may fill your life 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:36.779 and fill your stomach, but you know what? Cough 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:42.440 drops can't sustain your life. Israel, in a sense, 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:45.720 was filling up with cough drops. trying to provide 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.099 for themselves when bread of life, real bread 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:51.259 was available to them and they kept rejecting 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:59.420 it. And for a while, man, it gave the appearance 00:17:59.420 --> 00:18:01.839 of sustained energy. It gave the appearance of 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:05.339 prosperity, the heydays of Israel, but in the 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:08.299 end it destroyed them because substitutes always 00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:12.839 self -destruct. They look powerful, but they 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:16.599 cannot save. They look safe, but they collapse 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:21.039 under the pressure. They look fulfilling, but 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:26.519 they leave you starving. So when we trust in 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:30.220 substitutes, we self -destruct. And number two, 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:34.240 if you're taking notes, idols then and idols 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:41.000 now. It's easy to read Hosea 13 and think, well, 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:43.920 that was Israel's problem. Too bad for them, 00:18:44.019 --> 00:18:47.299 right? We don't bow down to golden calves anymore. 00:18:47.299 --> 00:18:49.799 We don't put trinkets on the shelf and kiss them 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:54.279 on our way out the door, do we? But the Bible 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:57.579 says that idolatry isn't just an ancient issue, 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:04.880 but it is actually alive in our hearts. There's 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.519 a story that comes out of Ezekiel chapter 14. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:11.920 In Ezekiel 14, a group of Israel's elders They 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:14.140 come to the prophet Ezekiel and it looks like 00:19:14.140 --> 00:19:15.920 they're doing the right religious activity. They're 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:18.859 coming to the prophet Ezekiel and they're inquiring 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:21.619 of the Lord. That's why they've come. And it's 00:19:21.619 --> 00:19:23.819 interesting because they come doing the right 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:25.779 thing, to inquire of the Lord by the prophet. 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:29.359 But the script gets flipped and God's like, no, 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:33.160 no, no, no, no. Instead of giving them the guidance 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:38.059 that they were seeking, God exposes them by saying 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:42.930 this. He said, these men, have set up idols in 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:46.210 their hearts, and they put the stumbling block 00:19:46.210 --> 00:19:50.329 of their iniquity before their faces. You can 00:19:50.329 --> 00:19:53.990 hear it there. Idolatry isn't just external. 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:57.970 It's not just an idol you put on the shelf or 00:19:57.970 --> 00:20:02.390 even just a car, right, or a house or a physical 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:04.849 item that you might bow down and worship to. 00:20:05.650 --> 00:20:09.690 But idolatry, idolatry of the heart, it's internal. 00:20:10.740 --> 00:20:14.180 We may not kiss carved calves, but our hearts, 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.359 our factories constantly turning out new things 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:22.859 for us to serve. Paul picks this up in Colossians, 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:25.640 actually. Listen to what Paul says in Colossians 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:30.839 chapter three, verse five. He says, put to death 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:36.900 greed. You go, okay, put to death greed. And 00:20:36.900 --> 00:20:39.700 what's the next part that he says? Put to death 00:20:39.700 --> 00:20:45.970 greed Which is idolatry? Well, greed's not an 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:47.789 idol you put on yourself. It's not a physical 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:49.210 thing that you have out there. It's something 00:20:49.210 --> 00:20:56.369 that starts where? Here. Greed is idolatry. And 00:20:56.369 --> 00:20:59.049 it's an idolatry of the heart. And Paul continues 00:20:59.049 --> 00:21:02.390 in Philippians chapter three, 19. He describes 00:21:02.390 --> 00:21:05.849 some people as, they make their stomach their 00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:12.650 god. And they glory in their shame. The point 00:21:12.650 --> 00:21:18.410 is that idolatry is whenever something created 00:21:18.410 --> 00:21:22.329 takes the Creator's place at the center of our 00:21:22.329 --> 00:21:27.950 lives. Whenever something created takes the Creator's 00:21:27.950 --> 00:21:32.569 place at the center of our lives. Our idols don't 00:21:32.569 --> 00:21:36.349 sit on shelves usually, but sometimes they sit 00:21:36.349 --> 00:21:40.700 on our schedules. Sometimes they sit in our bank 00:21:40.700 --> 00:21:45.519 accounts. Sometimes they sit in our relationships. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:51.160 And they might look like success when our career 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:56.299 defines our worth. Or relationships, when a relationship 00:21:56.299 --> 00:22:01.819 becomes an ultimate comfort or security or joy 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:07.220 in our life. When comfort when the pleasure that 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:11.200 we seek or the ease that we want becomes the 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:18.380 thing we can't live without. Me time. Politics. 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:21.680 When we look to a leader or an ideology or a 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:27.759 party as our ultimate hope, man, we're hopeless 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:33.880 unless so -and -so gets in there. Or maybe it's 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:37.539 our image. When when likes and approval dictate 00:22:37.539 --> 00:22:44.440 who we are. The novelist and essayist David Foster 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:47.240 Wallace, who wasn't a Christian, he once said, 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:52.900 everybody worships. The only choice we get is 00:22:52.900 --> 00:22:56.759 what to worship. That's what I said about Israel. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:59.519 Israel never stopped worshiping because no one 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.019 ever stops worshiping. We're always worshiping. 00:23:02.019 --> 00:23:06.130 We are worshiping creatures. But the choice that 00:23:06.130 --> 00:23:12.930 we get is, what are we worshiping or who? Whatever 00:23:12.930 --> 00:23:17.769 you worship other than God will eventually consume 00:23:17.769 --> 00:23:22.789 you. If you worship success, what will success 00:23:22.789 --> 00:23:25.630 demand of you? Well, it'll demand endless hours. 00:23:26.430 --> 00:23:30.059 Endless hours until you burn out. If you worship 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:33.059 at the altar of relationships, you will be crushed 00:23:33.059 --> 00:23:35.059 when that person disappoints you and fails you, 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:39.819 won't you? If you worship at the altar of comfort, 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.039 comfort will make you soft and anxious and feel 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:49.099 empty inside. You ever binged like Netflix at 00:23:49.099 --> 00:23:51.519 the end felt like you'd worked a job or something? 00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:00.630 More Netflix, I guess. I'm taking a vacation 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:06.150 from my vacation. And certainly politics doesn't 00:24:06.150 --> 00:24:11.009 divide us, right? Politics has never made anyone 00:24:11.009 --> 00:24:13.990 bitter or unloving toward anyone else, right? 00:24:13.990 --> 00:24:19.109 Ever. And approval, man, approval, the seeking 00:24:19.109 --> 00:24:22.150 of approval will enslave you. It'll enslave you 00:24:22.150 --> 00:24:29.710 to people who don't even know who you are. and 00:24:29.710 --> 00:24:34.890 don't even care to know who you are. Our idols, 00:24:35.329 --> 00:24:38.589 they don't always look like statues, do they? 00:24:39.150 --> 00:24:42.369 But they're just as deadly, and they promise 00:24:42.369 --> 00:24:48.289 life, but they only drain us of it. So, number 00:24:48.289 --> 00:24:50.069 three, if you're taking notes, the third point 00:24:50.069 --> 00:24:52.730 I'll have you write down is God's love won't 00:24:52.730 --> 00:24:59.779 share the throne. Hosea chapter 13 and verse 00:24:59.779 --> 00:25:02.779 four records God's reminder to his people. I 00:25:02.779 --> 00:25:05.380 have been the Lord your God ever since the land 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:09.819 of Egypt. You know, no God but me and besides 00:25:09.819 --> 00:25:16.160 me there is no savior. The Bible often describes 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.539 God as jealous. And jealous is one of those words 00:25:19.539 --> 00:25:21.759 that when we hear it with our ears, it almost 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.059 always has kind of a negative connotation to 00:25:24.059 --> 00:25:28.819 it. Jealousy. like insecurity or envy, right? 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:32.960 But when scripture calls God jealous, it means 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.599 that his love is so fierce and so committed and 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.420 so exclusive and so faithful that he refuses 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:45.380 to share our hearts with false gods that will 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:51.000 destroy us. You think of it this way, if a husband 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:55.700 or wife is indifferent, When their spouse gives 00:25:55.700 --> 00:25:58.420 their heart away to someone else, that's not 00:25:58.420 --> 00:26:05.019 love, is it? Oh, I don't care. True love says, 00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:09.980 man, I won't share you. I will fight for you. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:15.599 And that's what God is saying to Israel. His 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:19.460 jealousy is not about his ego. It's about our 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:24.920 protection. He knows that idols devour, and he 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:27.859 won't stand by while his people are consumed 00:26:27.859 --> 00:26:32.339 by them. Let's see, as Lewis once said, that 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:35.259 idols always break the hearts of their worshipers. 00:26:37.079 --> 00:26:39.160 You can't have a relationship with an idol and 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:42.079 think, maybe this one will work out. They always 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:47.559 break your heart. And God knows this. And his 00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:50.240 jealousy is his way of saying, I won't let that 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.680 happen without a fight. In Hosea chapter 13 and 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.259 seven and eight, God uses these kind of that 00:26:59.259 --> 00:27:01.400 aggressive language. Remember back at the beginning 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:05.740 where we landed, God says that he will be like 00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:10.099 a lion, a leopard, a bear robbed of her cubs. 00:27:10.579 --> 00:27:13.740 Those sound terrifying, right? Because they are 00:27:13.740 --> 00:27:16.769 like we, where I live. we have what are called 00:27:16.769 --> 00:27:24.609 mountain lions or big cats that aren't nice and 00:27:24.609 --> 00:27:26.490 Anytime I have to leave Sunday morning Usually 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:28.710 I'm leaving before the Sun is up and anytime 00:27:28.710 --> 00:27:30.650 I have to leave before the Sun is up or anytime 00:27:30.650 --> 00:27:33.809 I get home When the Sun is down like I get that 00:27:33.809 --> 00:27:36.430 flashlight out and I check as I'm walking in 00:27:36.430 --> 00:27:39.349 or walking out to the car Because you just never 00:27:39.349 --> 00:27:42.170 know what's around bears mountain lions like 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:44.640 And you wouldn't even, well, a mountain lion, 00:27:44.779 --> 00:27:46.019 you probably wouldn't even know it's around. 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.180 Not until it's got its nice little jaw around 00:27:49.180 --> 00:27:53.980 your neck, right? But that's a ferocious image 00:27:53.980 --> 00:27:57.519 of a lion or a leopard or a bear who has had 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.180 her cubs ripped from her. What's she gonna do? 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:06.339 It's terrifying. She's coming after you. She's 00:28:06.339 --> 00:28:12.630 going to wreak havoc, right? When God sees his 00:28:12.630 --> 00:28:17.849 people Clinging to idols that lead to death He 00:28:17.849 --> 00:28:21.849 will tear those idols away from them even if 00:28:21.849 --> 00:28:28.170 it hurts Because he loves and won't let go Because 00:28:28.170 --> 00:28:32.230 he's faithful And when God confronts our idols 00:28:32.230 --> 00:28:35.609 it's not because he's cruel Or because he wants 00:28:35.609 --> 00:28:39.490 to deprive us of life or joy. It's because he's 00:28:39.490 --> 00:28:45.190 merciful His jealousy is not to deprive us, but 00:28:45.190 --> 00:28:47.250 it's to deliver us from that which would crush 00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:49.910 us and he won't share the throne of our hearts 00:28:49.910 --> 00:28:53.029 with anyone because he knows he is the only one 00:28:53.029 --> 00:28:57.190 who is worthy of it. He is the only one who is 00:28:57.190 --> 00:28:59.970 strong enough to stand up under the expectation 00:28:59.970 --> 00:29:02.630 and wait. He is the only one of character who 00:29:02.630 --> 00:29:06.289 will not fail or let you down. He's the only 00:29:06.289 --> 00:29:10.549 one that you can lean fully into and not fall. 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:15.900 And so the final point is that idols must be 00:29:15.900 --> 00:29:22.039 dethroned in our lives, not managed. If idols 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:24.980 are destructive and God's love won't share the 00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:27.480 throne, then what are we supposed to do? Well, 00:29:27.619 --> 00:29:30.799 the answer is that idols can't just be managed. 00:29:33.140 --> 00:29:36.579 They must be overthrown in our lives. You can 00:29:36.579 --> 00:29:38.819 think of idols like weeds. We planted a garden 00:29:38.819 --> 00:29:40.980 at our house. We have a section of our property 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:45.000 and and we got all gung -ho one year and we went 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.480 out and and we we went to town and got that thing 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:50.680 ready and got it looking pretty and we set up 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:53.420 the The electric fence so that none of the critters 00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:55.079 would get in there and destroy our beautiful 00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:57.539 garden and we planted everything and got it all 00:29:57.539 --> 00:30:02.200 set up and then Like you realize oh this thing 00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:06.819 takes work Like, I thought you plant, you set 00:30:06.819 --> 00:30:11.960 it up and then, woo! Harvest time, right? No, 00:30:11.980 --> 00:30:15.339 it takes work. You gotta be out there all the 00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:18.519 time. You gotta be like a parent defending that 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:21.000 thing. Because everything on earth is coming 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:28.420 against it. Including weeds. Weeds just growing 00:30:28.420 --> 00:30:31.799 up everywhere. And you know with weeds, we got 00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:34.890 a lot of them around our property. You can pull 00:30:34.890 --> 00:30:37.349 out the weed eater and cut them down, right? 00:30:37.750 --> 00:30:41.089 But you know what happens? They come right back, 00:30:42.130 --> 00:30:46.170 little stinkers. You can trim them back. You 00:30:46.170 --> 00:30:48.109 can pour a bunch of mulch on top of them and 00:30:48.109 --> 00:30:49.809 try to hide them under the mulch. You know what 00:30:49.809 --> 00:30:53.809 happens? Pop up through the mulch. That's a lot 00:30:53.809 --> 00:30:59.730 harder to weed than other things. But if you 00:30:59.730 --> 00:31:03.509 want to get rid of weeds, You got to pull them 00:31:03.509 --> 00:31:08.769 up from the roots. And idols are like weeds. 00:31:11.029 --> 00:31:12.529 If you don't pull them up from the root, they 00:31:12.529 --> 00:31:14.549 will choke out everything else in your life. 00:31:16.190 --> 00:31:18.789 And that's why Hosea says in the next chapter 00:31:18.789 --> 00:31:21.950 that Nick will be preaching on next week, return 00:31:21.950 --> 00:31:24.670 to the Lord your God, take words with you and 00:31:24.670 --> 00:31:27.430 return to the Lord. Say to him, forgive all our 00:31:27.430 --> 00:31:30.940 sins and receive us graciously back. because 00:31:30.940 --> 00:31:33.599 the call is not to negotiate with your idols 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:36.160 so they can find a nice little place in your 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:40.480 life to share the throne with God. But the negotiation 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:43.740 isn't that, it's to repent and return, to dethrone 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:46.880 them, to pull them up from the roots and not 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.720 let them have a place at all. And so how do you 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:54.460 topple idols in your life? Well, it starts with 00:31:54.460 --> 00:31:56.859 diagnosing whether you have them or what they 00:31:56.859 --> 00:32:01.450 are first. And so here's four questions that 00:32:01.450 --> 00:32:05.849 you should ask yourself, even today. Number one, 00:32:05.910 --> 00:32:09.869 what do I daydream about when my mind drifts? 00:32:11.369 --> 00:32:14.009 What do I daydream about when my mind drifts? 00:32:14.670 --> 00:32:18.509 Man, if I only had that. Man, if my life looked 00:32:18.509 --> 00:32:22.430 like this. Man, if I could just achieve that, 00:32:22.890 --> 00:32:26.849 I'd be something. What do you daydream about? 00:32:28.809 --> 00:32:34.190 Number two like what if I lost it would make 00:32:34.190 --> 00:32:38.690 me feel like my life Wasn't worth it anymore 00:32:38.690 --> 00:32:42.430 What if I lost it would make me feel like my 00:32:42.430 --> 00:32:46.589 life wasn't worth it anymore Whatever is behind 00:32:46.589 --> 00:32:51.190 that curtain might be an idol in your heart or 00:32:51.190 --> 00:32:56.319 What do I sacrifice most for What do I sacrifice 00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:59.420 my time most for what do I sacrifice my money 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:02.740 or my energy most for that might be an idol in 00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:09.539 your life Or what makes me the most anxious angry 00:33:09.539 --> 00:33:15.319 or bitter when it's threatened That might be 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:20.000 an idol And those are four really good diagnostic 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.579 questions, but if you want to go 2 .0 on the 00:33:22.579 --> 00:33:25.529 diagnostic questions Ask someone else who's close 00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:28.710 to you those same questions about yourself and 00:33:28.710 --> 00:33:32.269 let them answer them. And you probably get pretty 00:33:32.269 --> 00:33:38.009 quickly to the idols. And those questions, what 00:33:38.009 --> 00:33:41.589 they do is they expose our functional saviors. 00:33:42.109 --> 00:33:46.250 It's all an idol is, a functional savior. They 00:33:46.250 --> 00:33:50.410 name the golden calves that we kiss in our hearts. 00:33:55.390 --> 00:33:57.829 But repentance is not just subtracting, but it's 00:33:57.829 --> 00:34:01.970 also replacing You can't just take them out You 00:34:01.970 --> 00:34:03.690 have to replace them with something Tim Keller 00:34:03.690 --> 00:34:05.930 said that idols can't simply be removed They 00:34:05.930 --> 00:34:09.010 must be replaced because you can't just tell 00:34:09.010 --> 00:34:12.309 your heart stop loving that Can you anyone tried 00:34:12.309 --> 00:34:17.690 that? Stop loving that You can't just tell your 00:34:17.690 --> 00:34:20.110 heart stop loving that because your heart has 00:34:20.110 --> 00:34:23.650 a void and it needs a greater love to displace 00:34:25.260 --> 00:34:29.119 the false love that you had before. Your heart 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:32.280 needs a greater love. The cure for idols is not 00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:36.260 sheer willpower, but deeper worship, deeper revelation 00:34:36.260 --> 00:34:39.440 of God directing your trust and affection to 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:44.000 the living God who alone can save you. And that's 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.980 why Hosea 13 -4 says, besides me, there is no 00:34:47.980 --> 00:34:51.659 savior because money won't save you. and relationships 00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:55.219 or romance won't save you. Friends won't save 00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:57.599 you. Comfort won't save you. Your own strength, 00:34:57.619 --> 00:35:04.920 you can't save yourself. But who can save? Only 00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:09.420 God in Christ, who gave his life for you, can 00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:14.739 save you. And so the call today is not simply 00:35:14.739 --> 00:35:17.679 to name your idols, but to topple them and to 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:21.320 dethrone them by enthroning Jesus Christ in your 00:35:21.320 --> 00:35:25.719 hearts. Because the novelist I talked about earlier, 00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:28.000 David Foster Wallace, he wasn't a Christian, 00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:30.659 but he saw something with clarity when he said, 00:35:30.940 --> 00:35:34.360 everyone worships. The only choice we get is 00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:36.969 what to worship. And then he continued on to 00:35:36.969 --> 00:35:39.389 say he wasn't a believer and he was talking about 00:35:39.389 --> 00:35:41.809 all the kind of world religions and he was kind 00:35:41.809 --> 00:35:43.789 of assessing them as an atheist. And he said, 00:35:43.989 --> 00:35:46.929 an outstanding reason for choosing some sort 00:35:46.929 --> 00:35:50.730 of God is that pretty much anything else you 00:35:50.730 --> 00:35:56.409 worship will eat you alive. Anything else you 00:35:56.409 --> 00:35:58.409 worship will eat you alive. And he was right. 00:35:58.550 --> 00:36:01.190 If you worship money, you'll always feel like 00:36:01.190 --> 00:36:04.429 you don't have enough. If you worship beauty, 00:36:04.730 --> 00:36:07.650 that you'll never be good enough, look good enough, 00:36:07.750 --> 00:36:11.190 young enough, thin enough, whatever it is. If 00:36:11.190 --> 00:36:13.809 you worship power, then you will be terrified 00:36:13.809 --> 00:36:18.210 of losing control. If you worship your intellect, 00:36:19.190 --> 00:36:24.230 you'll always feel insecure, like you're one 00:36:24.230 --> 00:36:33.320 step away from being exposed as a fraud. It says 00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:36.900 that idols don't just let you down. They end 00:36:36.900 --> 00:36:41.420 up devouring you like a lion. They consume the 00:36:41.420 --> 00:36:44.940 people who trust in them. And that's what idols 00:36:44.940 --> 00:36:47.360 do. They take and take and take until there's 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:52.019 nothing left of you. And God, he will work through 00:36:52.019 --> 00:36:53.940 the devouring and the destruction that idols 00:36:53.940 --> 00:36:56.760 bring into our lives. He will be at work in them 00:36:56.760 --> 00:36:59.059 in order to loosen the grip that they have on 00:36:59.059 --> 00:37:04.199 our hearts. He will work through that process 00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:08.780 of losing and being destroyed and devoured. He 00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:11.280 will work so that we might have space and room 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:14.500 to replace them with something that is genuine 00:37:14.500 --> 00:37:16.760 and true, something that is solid and will save 00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:21.940 us. And that is himself and himself alone. Idols 00:37:21.940 --> 00:37:24.300 will demand your sacrifice to keep them alive, 00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:27.860 but God in Christ became the sacrifice so that 00:37:27.860 --> 00:37:33.139 you could live. Idols will condemn you when you 00:37:33.139 --> 00:37:36.940 fail, but God in Christ forgives you when you 00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:42.000 fail. Idols enslave you with endless demands, 00:37:42.219 --> 00:37:45.260 but God in Christ sets you free with the finished 00:37:45.260 --> 00:37:53.460 work of Jesus on the cross. Idols devour, but 00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:58.139 God in Christ was devoured in his death for you 00:37:58.139 --> 00:38:08.079 and me. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:11.099 good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. 00:38:13.300 --> 00:38:16.719 Idols will tear you apart in order to keep themselves 00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:22.599 going. But Jesus let himself be torn apart so 00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:26.260 that you could be made whole. And here's the 00:38:26.260 --> 00:38:33.170 thing. No idol. has ever died for its worshipers. 00:38:36.130 --> 00:38:42.050 But Jesus Christ has. And the choice that was 00:38:42.050 --> 00:38:44.789 put before us from Hosea is will you keep kissing 00:38:44.789 --> 00:38:49.889 the calves? Will you keep trusting in the counterfeits 00:38:49.889 --> 00:38:52.550 that promise much but in the end bring ruin? 00:38:53.610 --> 00:38:56.750 Or will you topple those idols and begin to trust 00:38:56.750 --> 00:39:04.250 the shepherd who alone can save? Friends, I would 00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:07.829 say don't walk out of here clutching the very 00:39:07.829 --> 00:39:11.210 thing that will destroy you. Don't keep feeding 00:39:11.210 --> 00:39:16.369 your soul to idols that will eat you alive. There 00:39:16.369 --> 00:39:19.429 is a savior who loves you too much to share you 00:39:19.429 --> 00:39:23.510 with counterfeits. And his arms are open, his 00:39:23.510 --> 00:39:27.329 cross is more than enough, and his life is yours 00:39:27.329 --> 00:39:35.309 if you will but turn and trust him today. Everybody 00:39:35.309 --> 00:39:42.250 worships, but who or what will you worship? Maybe 00:39:42.250 --> 00:39:47.650 you struggle with the idol of opinion. Your opinion 00:39:47.650 --> 00:39:51.010 is ultimate. And when other people don't recognize 00:39:51.010 --> 00:39:54.730 that, it kind of crushes you, throws you for 00:39:54.730 --> 00:40:00.690 a loop, spins you out. Maybe you worship at the 00:40:00.690 --> 00:40:04.860 altar of significance. I know that was one that 00:40:04.860 --> 00:40:09.119 I had to put to death. When I was younger, I 00:40:09.119 --> 00:40:12.599 thought, you're not something unless your name's 00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:16.099 published somewhere. Unless there's a story to 00:40:16.099 --> 00:40:19.760 be told about what you did. I was big into history. 00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:23.639 That kinda screwed me up. I'm like, I wanna be 00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:27.400 in some history book somewhere. And so I really 00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:30.760 thought, unless I'm not significant if my name's 00:40:30.760 --> 00:40:34.909 not somewhere. And so my whole plan was as I 00:40:34.909 --> 00:40:36.949 hit teenage years and getting into young adult 00:40:36.949 --> 00:40:40.469 was I was going to go into the Marines I was 00:40:40.469 --> 00:40:43.889 going to go fight and hopefully someone would 00:40:43.889 --> 00:40:47.090 throw a grenade and I could throw myself on top 00:40:47.090 --> 00:40:50.769 of it and I could save a bunch of people and 00:40:50.769 --> 00:40:56.969 Then maybe my name would be somewhere And I just 00:40:56.969 --> 00:41:00.349 surrender that idol to the Lord when it became 00:41:00.349 --> 00:41:08.619 clear that I'm not a Marine. So I switched to 00:41:08.619 --> 00:41:10.559 saving someone from a car wreck or something, 00:41:11.019 --> 00:41:13.340 right? Jumping in front of a train, but that 00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:16.840 hasn't happened yet, no. No, you surrender that 00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:19.719 idol and you say, you know what? I'm okay with 00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:23.619 being nothing. I'm okay with being forgotten 00:41:23.619 --> 00:41:26.920 in the dustbin of history and being nothing. 00:41:27.860 --> 00:41:31.130 If only. I can play a small part in making your 00:41:31.130 --> 00:41:38.429 name great, whatever that is. That idol had to 00:41:38.429 --> 00:41:42.269 be put to death. Maybe your idol is your image. 00:41:42.349 --> 00:41:45.429 You are scared to death that people are going 00:41:45.429 --> 00:41:48.889 to see something about you that you've been carefully 00:41:48.889 --> 00:41:55.789 curating away. It's an idol. You don't have to 00:41:55.789 --> 00:41:59.659 leave clinging to it today. Surrender it to Jesus. 00:42:00.579 --> 00:42:02.239 He's more than enough, amen.