Rsbc
Feb 10, 2002
Sunday Morning
Subject: “THE UNPROFITABLENESS OF IDOL GODS”
Text: Isaiah 44-9-20
Intro: In these verses the prophet Isaiah is conveying a message to Jacob and Israel concerning the uselessness of other nations erecting gods of their imagination. He has been very clear in his revealing to Israel the profitableness of serving the one and only true GOD. Look at Verse 6..
The Bible has plenty to say about IDOLATRY
a.) It is forbidden by the Lord: Deuteronomy 5:7‑9 Thou shalt have none other gods before me. 8 Thou shalt not make thee [any] graven image, [or] any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the waters beneath the earth: 9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me,
No matter how often the people of GOD were told not to be involved in the worship of man made gods, in most cases they paid little or no attention to the men of GOD or the voice of GOD, or the written word of the LORD. The unprofitableness is seen in our text tonight I want us to look at it and see the truth as GOD reveals it in this text.
I.... “ IT IS VANITY”...VS 9-10
The word “vanity” means confusion or emptiness without form...it leaves the follower with nothing. A empty feeling, no assurance and no profit at all.
1st. Vain things have an attraction to the human heart:
Listen to what the bible says in 2 Kings:
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2 Kings 17:15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that [were] round about them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
2. Sinners love vanity:
Psalm 4:2 O ye sons of men, how long [will ye turn] my glory into shame? [how long] will ye love vanity, [and] seek after leasing? Selah.
3. The people GOD who get involved in Vanity loose touch with the LORD:
Jeremiah 2:5‑6 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 6 Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
Jeremiah 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
II... “ IT PRODUCES FEAR” VS 11
The word ashamed in this text speaks of disappointment. Believe all the gods of this world in the end will lead the followers to a path of fear and disappointment.
David said:
Psalm 97:7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all [ye] gods.
Revelation 18:10-15
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III... IT STRIPS ITS VICTIMS OF EVERYTHING AND LEAVES THEM IN DESPERATE NEED: VS 12
1st. It leaves him hungry...
Countless thousands starve to death because they refuse to eat the flesh of a cow because he is a deity...
Isaiah 8:21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
2nd. It leaves him strengthless:
He cannot earn his money to live and to eat. He is left with no ability to rescue himself, and his god has no power to save or deliver him. He is out of hope, nothing left he is the victim of a false hope, false religion, false god, false doctrine. It will take hold of him now and at death and hell awaits him as his final abode.
IV...IT LEAVES THEM WITHOUT A RAY OF HOPE BECAUSE GOD HATH BLINDED THEM: VS 18
Through out the word of GOD we see verses that teach that GOD hath blinded some, not just those that are in idolatry but even some from among the nation of Israel.
Romans 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
John 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
V. IT REVEALS HIS DECEIVED HEART..VS 20
1st. God always warns us about deception:
Deuteronomy 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
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2nd. There is the deception of the prideful heart...
Obadiah 3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation [is] high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
3rd. There is the deception in rationalizing about getting away with sin...
Galatians 6:7‑8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.