Speaker 1: Hi, it's Pastor Jonathan and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.
Speaker 1: We hope today's message will challenge and help you take the next step as you follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: Kelly, carrie and some guy named I Am those are the first names of three of the winners of one of America's longest running television shows American Idol.
Speaker 1: Kelly, that's Kelly Clarkson.
Speaker 1: Carrie, that's Carrie Underwood.
Speaker 1: And I Am this smiling Sermon.
Speaker 1: I Am Tongue.
Speaker 1: He won American Idol just a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Upon hearing that his name was called and he was the new American Idol, tongue smiled from ear to ear.
Speaker 1: He saw everyone applauding in the room, he saw his family in the corner and then he heard the host you know his name, ryan Seacrest utter these iconic words.
Speaker 1: He goes you're American Idol.
Speaker 1: I Am Tongue received 17 million votes to become this year's American Idol.
Speaker 1: I didn't cast a single one of those votes.
Speaker 1: You probably didn't either.
Speaker 1: In fact, you're probably like me and you haven't watched an episode of American Idol in years.
Speaker 1: American Idol's kind of passed its prime.
Speaker 1: It's something from years gone by, but that doesn't mean you and I haven't cast a vote for our very own American Idol.
Speaker 1: So in the modern world, when we hear the word Idol, it evokes images of primitive people bowing down in front of a statue.
Speaker 1: Maybe you think of a relic you've seen in a display case in a museum.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you think of a story found in the Old Testament, a story like the Golden Calf episode in the life of ancient Israel journeying through the wilderness they're tired of waiting on Moses.
Speaker 1: They look at Aaron and say here's all our gold.
Speaker 1: Make us a calf.
Speaker 1: We're going to worship the calf.
Speaker 1: Or a story like was mentioned by our students this morning, the story of King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, when he summons everyone in his realm to bow down to a golden statue.
Speaker 1: Either way, whether you connect the word Idol to a relic or you connect it to an ancient story, the conclusion you draw when it comes to the word Idol is the same Idols are a thing of the past.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why in our culture, we trivialize the word Idol.
Speaker 1: We talk about teen idols.
Speaker 1: In a generation past, a teen idol was someone like James Dean.
Speaker 1: Right In contemporary culture, a teen idol is someone like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, or little boys and girls.
Speaker 1: They idolize their sports heroes.
Speaker 1: Remember that phrase from the 80s and 90s I want to be like Mike.
Speaker 1: But those are not the only American idols.
Speaker 1: There are so many more American idols, idols that are far more dangerous and far more destructive.
Speaker 1: Consider these words written by Tim Keller in his book Counterfeit Gods.
Speaker 1: Listen to what Keller writes.
Speaker 1: He says each culture is dominated by its own set of idols.
Speaker 1: We may not actually burn incense to Artemis, but when money and career are raised to cosmic proportions, we perform a kind of child sacrifice, neglecting family and community to achieve a higher place in business and gain more wealth and prestige.
Speaker 1: We may not ever fashion a golden calf, we may never see an idol that's 90 feet tall and nine feet wide, but when we make a piece of creation, the most important thing in our life, we've created and cast a vote for our very own American idol.
Speaker 1: In that book, keller goes on and he names a series of American idols physical appearance, personal achievement, a political cause, human approval, leisure, power, popularity.
Speaker 1: It could be your sports team, cheerleading, soccer and football.
Speaker 1: The idol of comfort, the idol of financial security.
Speaker 1: None of those things are innately evil, but something happens when we allow that good thing to become the ultimate thing, kelly writes, that's when it becomes an idol in our life, when that good thing becomes the driving force, the motivating factor, when it's what you eat and sleep and breathe, when it's that thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night.
Speaker 1: That's your American idol.
Speaker 1: That's the idol that sits on the throne, that's the idol that's dangerous and destructive.
Speaker 1: And, whether we like to admit it or not, there's an American idol found in each and every one of us.
Speaker 1: Consider God's message to the prophet Ezekiel.
Speaker 1: In this chapter of Ezekiel I'm going to read from God kind of surveys the heart, like only he can, of the leaders of ancient Israel, and this is God's evaluation of their heart.
Speaker 1: He says these men have set up idols in their heart.
Speaker 1: There was no exception to the rule.
Speaker 1: There was an idol in each and every one of them.
Speaker 1: And what was true of those men is true of you and me.
Speaker 1: You and I.
Speaker 1: We may not see an idol on the outside, but that doesn't mean there isn't an idol on the inside.
Speaker 1: So what exactly is an idol?
Speaker 1: Again, tim Keller, I think, summarizes it so well when he says this An idol is anything more important to you than God?
Speaker 1: Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.
Speaker 1: Let's leave that definition up.
Speaker 1: Let's let it roll around in our brain and hear it one more time An idol is anything more important to you than God?
Speaker 1: Think about the priorities in your life.
Speaker 1: Think about how you spend your time.
Speaker 1: Think about what you devote your thoughts to, your energies towards, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination.
Speaker 1: Again, what do you dream about at night?
Speaker 1: What do you think about first thing in the morning, last thing in the evening?
Speaker 1: To give you what only God can give you.
Speaker 1: Where do you find comfort?
Speaker 1: Where do you find purpose?
Speaker 1: Where's your identity rooted?
Speaker 1: Let that definition roll around in your head, because this morning we're going to answer a very pressing question for each of us what's your American idol?
Speaker 1: In week three of our series, dear Church, we're going to move forward in John's letters to those seven churches of Asia Minor and we're going to read Jesus' letter, jesus' message to the church at Pergamum, a church that knew firsthand the influence and the power of idols.
Speaker 1: And Jesus, as he surveys this church and sees idolatry present, jesus is going to provide them with this three-step process that's going to allow them to identify and to demolish the idols in their life to replace them with the one true God at the center of their lives.
Speaker 1: And the process is this it's reveal the idol, repent of the idol and receive the reward.
Speaker 1: Reveal, repent, receive.
Speaker 1: Listen closely to what Jesus says to that congregation and ancient Pergamum, revelation 2, beginning with verse 12.
Speaker 1: To the angel of the church in Pergamum right, these are the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword.
Speaker 1: I know where you live, where Satan has his throne.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you remain true to my name.
Speaker 1: You did not renounce your faith in me, not even the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who is put to death in your city where Satan lives.
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, I have a few things against you.
Speaker 1: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
Speaker 1: Likewise, you also have those who hold on to the teachings of the Nicolaitans.
Speaker 1: Repent, therefore, otherwise I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Speaker 1: Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Speaker 1: To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.
Speaker 1: I'll also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
Speaker 1: If you were to stand in the city of ancient Pergamum and survey the city scape idolatry was an undeniable facet of life you could easily ask the question who's your Roman idol?
Speaker 1: You surveyed the city and there was this great altar that was built to the god Zeus.
Speaker 1: It was inscribed with this Zeus the savior.
Speaker 1: Outside of the city, there was this complex of buildings dedicated to the god Asclepis, the god of healing.
Speaker 1: So people made it there.
Speaker 1: When they were ill, when they had something that ailed them, they in droves went out searching for Asclepis, savior, and Pergamum was a city devoted to the worship of the emperor.
Speaker 1: They in fact hold this.
Speaker 1: The city holds this distinction.
Speaker 1: Typically, in ancient Rome, a temple wasn't built or dedicated to an emperor until he died, until it was believed he had joined the pantheon of the Roman gods.
Speaker 1: Pergamum, though, they decided there was an emperor that they loved, they were devoted to him, and they received permission from the emperor himself to build a temple dedicated to him even though he was still alive.
Speaker 1: The prevalence of idols in the city of Pergamum is why Jesus looks around, surveys the city and he says this is where Satan lives.
Speaker 1: Wow, for Jesus.
Speaker 1: There was no denying the idolatry of that place.
Speaker 1: It was spiritually dark.
Speaker 1: It was the original sin city and Satan's hold on Pergamum meant that it was a city that was openly hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Jesus names one of those church members who met that hostility, a guy named Antipas, and Antipas resisted the idolatry of Pergamum.
Speaker 1: He refused to bow down to the idols of city and culture and that's why Jesus says that.
Speaker 1: Should call to mind for you the example of what Shadrach, meshach and Abednego Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, what they got out of the fire.
Speaker 1: Antipas didn't, but he was committed to God.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't bow down and worship the idols, but he stood out from the rest of the congregation who were bowing down to those idols.
Speaker 1: And Jesus must take that very first step in the process.
Speaker 1: He's going to reveal the idol.
Speaker 1: Jesus, as he looks out on this congregation in Pergamum, he's brandishing, he's holding this double-edged sword.
Speaker 1: In this case, the sword that it's referencing is a sword that would have had a two-foot wooden hilt and attached to that would have been a blade that was three feet long.
Speaker 1: It was a powerful sword that, when used in battle.
Speaker 1: With a single slash it could divide a shield in half.
Speaker 1: Jesus is carrying this sword and he gazes upon a church and he knows that with a single slash he could reveal the idol within each and every one of them.
Speaker 1: The specific form of idolatry in ancient Pergamum is that they were eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
Speaker 1: So it was pretty common in the ancient world that to the gods it would be a sacrifice of food, a sacrifice of meat.
Speaker 1: A small portion of that sacrifice would be consumed by fire, while the rest of it was left untouched.
Speaker 1: Some of that meat would then be sold in the marketplace and the rest of the New Testament we learned it was okay for Christians to eat that meat sold in the marketplace.
Speaker 1: But there was other meat Not all meat made it to the marketplace.
Speaker 1: Other pieces of meat, other portions of that sacrifice found their way into a dining room, into a cafeteria line that was directly connected to the temple.
Speaker 1: That was the meat the members of the church at Pergamum were eating.
Speaker 1: What is different between the meat sold in the market and the meat served in the line?
Speaker 1: The meat served in the line is directly tied to the worship of that one God.
Speaker 1: But that's just the beginning.
Speaker 1: Not only was worship about a shared meal, there was also a shared bed.
Speaker 1: Often these meals would devolve and people would disregard God's design between a man and a woman.
Speaker 1: They would disregard the sanctity of marriage.
Speaker 1: You may think to yourself that's really fascinating.
Speaker 1: Now I understand what's going on in that ancient city, but what about me living in El Dorado?
Speaker 1: I want you to consider this.
Speaker 1: Listen real closely, because I don't think this is a thought that often crosses our mind.
Speaker 1: Those Christians who were eating the meat sacrificed to idol.
Speaker 1: Guess what?
Speaker 1: They still thought they were Christians.
Speaker 1: They still believed they could look at an idol and love the Lord, and I think that's the point of connection between the past and the present.
Speaker 1: That's how idols arise in our hearts.
Speaker 1: They believe, like culture says it's okay, I just want to fit in, everybody's going to be at the party, everybody's going to have something to eat.
Speaker 1: Why can't I?
Speaker 1: It's like this fog of culture prevents them from discerning the choice that they're actually making.
Speaker 1: Isn't that how idolatry works in our life?
Speaker 1: We see something going on in culture.
Speaker 1: Culture normalizes it.
Speaker 1: Culture says that it's really good, whether it's like pursuing career at all cost, giving yourself to sports at all cost, giving yourself to achievement at all cost, finding your value in your personal appearance, no matter what happens.
Speaker 1: It's all because culture says that's okay, go forward with it.
Speaker 1: It's not a big deal, everybody else is doing it and you're like I'm still a Christian, I still love Jesus, right, but that compromise is just like the compromise they're making.
Speaker 1: We cannot look to an idol and love the Lord.
Speaker 1: So back to our question what's your American idol?
Speaker 1: What absorbs your heart and imagination?
Speaker 1: What's the thing that you seek to give you when only God can truly give you?
Speaker 1: Here's the challenge Are you brave enough, are you passionate enough about Jesus that you're willing to pray?
Speaker 1: Jesus, take a swing like, slash the sword in this moment and reveal the idol that's in my heart.
Speaker 1: So I can see it, because I think some of us, like, the fog of culture is so thick we cannot even pick it out anymore.
Speaker 1: We need Jesus to reveal the idol that's in our hearts.
Speaker 1: And once the idol is revealed, jesus says you have to repent.
Speaker 1: Repent of the idol.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the next slide With the pictures of those U-turn signs.
Speaker 1: See, one of those signs says a U-turn.
Speaker 1: What you can make a U-turn right now.
Speaker 1: The other U-turn is not possible.
Speaker 1: Don't make a U-turn right here.
Speaker 1: Repentance is something like a spiritual U-turn.
Speaker 1: You make a U-turn because you're aware of the fact that you are going in the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: You're heading down the wrong path, the wrong road, and you know like to get going the right way you have to totally re-correct your path.
Speaker 1: Repentance is possible, but culture wants you to believe the lies of culture want you to believe that repentance is impossible.
Speaker 1: You're always going to worship this idol.
Speaker 1: You're always going to be stuck walking down this road.
Speaker 1: You're always going to have these habits that control your life and draw you away from Jesus.
Speaker 1: It is not possible.
Speaker 1: But Jesus says repentance is possible.
Speaker 1: You can repent of your sins and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians 7 says it this way Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leads no regret.
Speaker 1: Godly sorrow is seeing the idol from the perspective of God, mourning over it and then trusting in the gospel of Jesus and its power to reorient your life.
Speaker 1: You can't do it in your own power.
Speaker 1: You have to just be in agreement with the power of God and open your life up to the power of God for repentance to occur and for the turn to happen.
Speaker 1: Reveal the idol, repent of the idol.
Speaker 1: And then, the third step, receive the reward.
Speaker 1: So the reward promised by Jesus is twofold.
Speaker 1: First, he says the reward is hidden manna.
Speaker 1: Jesus is making an illusion to another story in the Old Testament Israel's journey through the wilderness.
Speaker 1: And God provides and provision each and every day in the form of manna from heaven.
Speaker 1: But this is hidden manna.
Speaker 1: This is manna, a provision they've not yet received and that they will not receive in this world.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus says not only receive hidden manna, you will receive a white stone.
Speaker 1: What's important about the white stone?
Speaker 1: In the ancient world, a white stone was like an admission ticket.
Speaker 1: It's the way you gain entrance to banquets, celebrations.
Speaker 1: Jesus gives his church a white stone because he wants them to know that through him, and through him alone, they gain entrance to his messianic banquet, To a banquet where the hidden manna is served, where the ultimate provision, our final salvation, is realized in that moment.
Speaker 1: So one of the American idols of years gone by is that boy from Tupelo, elvis.
Speaker 1: Elvis Presley Swirl Hips, snarl, amazing black hair.
Speaker 1: You know Elvis died over 45 years ago and since his death.
Speaker 1: There have been many people who, like, impersonate and imitate the king of rock and roll.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, I won't give it a shot this morning.
Speaker 1: In a similar fashion.
Speaker 1: It's been over 2000 years since Jesus died on a cross, paying the debt of our sin, and since that day there have been hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions, of idols who try to impersonate and imitate the king of kings.
Speaker 1: And listen they cannot ever give you what Jesus offers you.
Speaker 1: They cannot give you purpose, they cannot give you peace, they cannot give you an identity that will last throughout this life.
Speaker 1: They cannot offer you.
Speaker 1: Only Jesus can offer you eternal life and a place in the family of God, entrance into the Messianic banquet, provision that will last for all of eternity, and all that's possible.
Speaker 1: Because there's really this huge difference between Elvis and Jesus, not just like ones in America and ones that you like.
Speaker 1: Big difference is this Elvis's dad hate to break it to you Like been dead 45 years.
Speaker 1: Jesus is alive.
Speaker 1: King of rock and roll is dead, but the king of kings is alive.
Speaker 1: Jesus rose again on the third day and here's what we know based on that fact In this room today Jesus stands with a double-edged sword.
Speaker 1: He wants to reveal the idol of your heart, because he's calling you to repent.
Speaker 1: He's inviting you to receive the reward.
Speaker 1: The same Jesus who walked in and through the church at Pergamum is walking in and through and around First Baptist Church of El Dorado.
Speaker 1: Will you allow him to swing the sword this morning?
Speaker 1: Reveal the idol, repent of the idol and receive the reward.
Speaker 1: The reward that is offered to us by grace.
Speaker 1: It's free.
Speaker 1: You don't do anything to deserve it.
Speaker 1: Through faith, put your trust in Jesus Christ and him alone.
Speaker 1: Christ Alone can save.
Speaker 1: Let's stand together and pray.
Speaker 1: Almighty God.
Speaker 1: We bow before you in prayer and we thank you that your son, jesus, father, is with us in this place.
Speaker 1: The Spirit brings his presence into the room.
Speaker 1: Jesus, we present our lives to you and we ask that you would reveal the idol that we cannot see.
Speaker 1: And Jesus, give us the power through the Spirit, not our own power, but the power of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: We stand in agreement with the Spirit to repent, to name the idol and turn away from it.
Speaker 1: And we want to face you, jesus, because we know that you offer us a reward.
Speaker 1: The world may say it can give us, the world may promise even to us, but that the world will fail to keep its word.
Speaker 1: The world, the idols of the world, will always disappoint.
Speaker 1: But, jesus, we know you are faithful to the very end.
Speaker 1: Let me pray this in your name amen.