Speaker 1: We remain standing, please, as is the custom of our church, as we read God's word for us today Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 12 through 20.
Speaker 1: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountain in scales and the hills in a balance?
Speaker 1: Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel?
Speaker 1: Whom did he consult and who made him understand?
Speaker 1: Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?
Speaker 1: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as the dust on the scales.
Speaker 1: Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Speaker 1: Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
Speaker 1: All the nations are as nothing before him.
Speaker 1: They are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
Speaker 1: To whom, then, will you liken God?
Speaker 1: And what likeness compare with him?
Speaker 1: An idol, god, and what likeness compare with him?
Speaker 1: An idol, a craftsman casted.
Speaker 1: The goldsmith overlays it with gold and cast it for its silver chains.
Speaker 1: He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot.
Speaker 1: He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
Speaker 1: God bless the reading of his word.
Speaker 1: You may be seated.
Speaker 2: Thank you, stephen.
Speaker 2: You know there are many things in this world that are vying for our worship.
Speaker 2: Our culture has many gods, don't they?
Speaker 2: The god of money and sex and power?
Speaker 2: We can name many.
Speaker 2: Anything that you and I make supreme in our lives above God.
Speaker 2: You know what the Bible calls that An idol, and idols will always disappoint us, they will enslave us and, beloved, they will ultimately crush us, ultimately crush us.
Speaker 2: We must ensure that we are ultimately driven by the glory of God.
Speaker 2: So, with that in mind, we are continuing to work our way through Isaiah, chapter 40, in a mini-series we are calling Behold Our God, and the aim here is to reorient us to the greatness of our God.
Speaker 2: And the aim here is to reorient us to the greatness of our God, which then, this morning, here's what we're going to look at as we reorient ourselves towards the greatness of our God.
Speaker 2: That then invites us to abandon idols and to give God the whole of who we are, loving Him with all of our being, with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength.
Speaker 2: The only way that you and I are going to experience lasting satisfaction in life and the joy of God and the peace of God, the only way that we're going to overcome our anxiety is to behold our God and to worship Him alone.
Speaker 2: So let me in case you weren't here last week, let me just give a quick historical backdrop for Isaiah, chapter 40.
Speaker 2: So, beginning in this chapter, the prophet Isaiah begins addressing a generation of God's people who, at the time he is writing this, were not even born yet, were not even born yet.
Speaker 2: This text would be relevant to them about 150 years after it's written.
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 2: So Isaiah is preaching to a generation that's not even been born yet.
Speaker 2: Maybe should the Lord tarry after my life, maybe somebody will come upon one of my sermons, maybe this is for them today, who knows?
Speaker 2: But these people to whom isaiah is writing, they will find themselves in exile in babylon, in large part because of judah, the people of judah, the southern kingdom of israel.
Speaker 2: Because of their sin, which included idolatry, they had turned to false gods, they did not give God their allegiance and, as a result, it did crush them, and they now find themselves enslaved in a foreign land.
Speaker 2: But God, in Isaiah chapter 40, speaks through Isaiah to this future generation.
Speaker 2: And, after all the wickedness that Judah had done, god says, as we saw last week to Isaiah, speak tenderly to them, comfort, comfort my people.
Speaker 2: Aren't you glad you have a merciful God?
Speaker 2: And so what God does through Isaiah in this text, he promises to take Judah, this remnant of Judah that's left, to take them out of Babylon, out of captivity, and bring them back to the Holy Land, back to Jerusalem, back to the promised land.
Speaker 2: And throughout this chapter, isaiah reminds the people of the immeasurable greatness of God and he invites them, as we just sang in verse 9, behold your god.
Speaker 2: The, the people of judah, see that, after being in captivity for many years, they were looking to their situation, they were looking at their enemies, they were looking at the, the weakness of their own people.
Speaker 2: And what does Isaiah say?
Speaker 2: Behold your God.
Speaker 2: Quit looking at your problems and look to your God.
Speaker 2: That's the point.
Speaker 2: And I would just say to you today maybe you came in here downtrodden and heavy laden, maybe you're overcome with anxiety, and my advice to you would be that which Isaiah said to the people of God many centuries ago Behold your God.
Speaker 2: So we're going to begin today by looking at the immeasurable greatness of God.
Speaker 2: This is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: What's in this text?
Speaker 2: I'm excited, smile at me, act like you're excited too.
Speaker 2: Alright, here's what we see.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 12.
Speaker 2: We're going to look at the immeasurable greatness of God and first off, we see that God is omnipotent.
Speaker 2: Omnipotent, that means all powerful.
Speaker 2: God is omnipotent, that means all powerful God is.
Speaker 2: There is no end to his power.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 12.
Speaker 2: This is the first part.
Speaker 2: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?
Speaker 2: Now, here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 2: I want you to take your hand and just kind of cup it like this how much water do you think you could hold in your hand?
Speaker 2: I tried this out on Friday.
Speaker 2: I got about two or three teaspoons before it started kind of dripping out.
Speaker 2: Did you read the verse?
Speaker 2: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?
Speaker 2: So it is estimated I did some research that there are 326 quintillion, that is, 326 million trillion gallons of water on the earth.
Speaker 2: And you know what Isaiah is saying All of the ocean and all of the fresh water combined, when compared to God, it's just like a couple drops of water in the palm of His hand.
Speaker 2: This is poetic, okay.
Speaker 2: Isaiah is trying in some way to get us to understand how great God, how powerful God, truly is.
Speaker 2: And then he goes on.
Speaker 2: He says and he marked off the heavens with a span.
Speaker 2: We have no idea how vast the universe is, no idea, scientists have no idea.
Speaker 2: But here's what we know about the observable universe.
Speaker 2: Okay, so a light year, a light year is the distance life travels in one year.
Speaker 2: About 6 trillion miles light can travel in one year, the observable universe.
Speaker 2: So this is what we know.
Speaker 2: There's a lot to the universe that we don't know.
Speaker 2: The observable universe is about 93 billion light years in diameter.
Speaker 2: So one light year, six trillion miles, and the observable universe is 93 billion light years in diameter.
Speaker 2: And the observable universe has a volume of roughly 410,000, billion, billion, billion cubic.
Speaker 2: So that's on each side, six, you know, a light year, six trillion trillion miles times that number.
Speaker 2: I won't say it again.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's just go through that part one more time.
Speaker 2: The universe has a volume of roughly 410,000, everybody say it billion, billion, billion cubic light years.
Speaker 2: And Isaiah said he marked it off with a span.
Speaker 2: Now in the Hebrew I'm going to have you interact one more time.
Speaker 2: Take your hand like this a span in the Hebrew it's a technical term for the distance between your thumb and your little finger, this universe 93 Between your thumb and your little finger.
Speaker 2: This universe 93 billion light years in diameter, the part that we know of.
Speaker 2: So it's much more vast than this.
Speaker 2: Compared to God, it's like this he could hold it in the palm of his hand.
Speaker 2: The Lord created the entirety of the universe and he holds it together with the power of his word.
Speaker 2: Psalm 19, verse 1.
Speaker 2: Before I read that, let me ask you this have you ever asked, have you ever wondered, if we are the only inhabited planet in the entire universe, why'd God make it so big?
Speaker 2: Did you ever ask that question?
Speaker 2: That's a question worth thinking about.
Speaker 2: I've got the conspiracy theorists back there going.
Speaker 2: We're not alone.
Speaker 2: All right, here we go.
Speaker 2: But think about it.
Speaker 2: If we are the only inhabited planet in all of the world, god, why so much?
Speaker 2: Psalm 19, verse 1.
Speaker 2: The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
Speaker 2: Why did God make such a vast universe?
Speaker 2: To show you how big he is, how glorious he is.
Speaker 2: And you know what John Piper said about that.
Speaker 2: He said it's a vast understatement, because if you could comprehend the entirety of the universe which you can't and never will even then you're just getting a small idea of the greatness of our God because he can hold it all in the palm of His hand.
Speaker 2: The Lord's power and greatness is immeasurable.
Speaker 2: So the Lord is omnipotent.
Speaker 2: Number two we see in the next verses that the Lord is omniscient.
Speaker 2: Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 13 and 14.
Speaker 2: Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him counsel?
Speaker 2: Whom did he consult and who made him understand?
Speaker 2: Who taught him the path of justice and who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?
Speaker 2: God is all-knowing.
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 2: The Lord has never learned anything in all of time, because he has always known everything.
Speaker 2: That's just hard to comprehend, isn't it?
Speaker 2: Matthew 10,?
Speaker 2: It says he knows every sparrow that falls.
Speaker 2: It says that he knows listen every hair that's on your head, the number of hairs on your head.
Speaker 2: Now, for some of you that's not difficult, but for others of you, that's something God is all-knowing.
Speaker 2: You know, not only does God know everything that happens and everything that we can see, but God also knows every thought you have.
Speaker 2: Does God know everything that happens and everything that we can see, but God also knows every thought you have.
Speaker 2: He knows what's in your heart.
Speaker 2: For example, in Acts 1, verse 24, I believe.
Speaker 2: So Judas went rogue, one of the disciples, and he's now gone, and so the disciples have to replace Judas Iscariot, and so they have two candidates for the next disciple, the next apostle.
Speaker 2: And here's what Acts 1.24 says.
Speaker 2: It says essentially that they prayed because God knows the, what the heart See these apostles.
Speaker 2: They can look on the outside and well, man, he can quote a lot of Scripture, that's when he's a really nice guy, really great guy.
Speaker 2: But he said maybe we should pray about it because God sees what we don't see.
Speaker 2: Listen, you can fool me today about your spirituality, but you cannot fool the Lord.
Speaker 2: You can sing songs and you can weep, which is an awesome thing to do.
Speaker 2: We ought to be more moved sometimes in worship, but you can weep, which is an awesome thing to do.
Speaker 2: We ought to be more moved sometimes in worship, but you can weep and your heart can be a million miles from God, and I may not know it, but the Lord does.
Speaker 2: He knows everything that will happen.
Speaker 2: Let me just read you Isaiah 46, 9 and 10.
Speaker 2: Remember the former things of old?
Speaker 2: So just a few chapters later.
Speaker 2: For I am God, there is no other.
Speaker 2: I am God.
Speaker 2: There's none like me Declaring the end from the beginning.
Speaker 2: God declared it, he knows it, he knows everything that's going to happen.
Speaker 2: Relax.
Speaker 2: The God who loves you, the God who called you, the God who sh you, the God who called you, the God who shepherds you, knows everything that's going to happen in your life today, this week and for the entirety of your being.
Speaker 2: Not only that.
Speaker 2: Think about this.
Speaker 2: God knows every hypothetical outcome.
Speaker 2: He knows everything that will happen and everything that could happen if different choices were made.
Speaker 2: Let me give you an example of this 1 Samuel, chapter 23, in verses 10 through 13.
Speaker 2: So in this narrative, saul is after David's life.
Speaker 2: King Saul is after David's life.
Speaker 2: He's jealous of him and wants him dead.
Speaker 2: And so David has been on the run and he's in this place called Keilah, and he asked the Lord.
Speaker 2: He says, lord, if I stay in this city, will they hand me over to Saul?
Speaker 2: So it's a what if?
Speaker 2: And the Lord says to him yes, the people.
Speaker 2: If you stay, the people will betray you.
Speaker 2: So David fled.
Speaker 2: So the Lord knew the outcome of an event that never materialized.
Speaker 2: The Lord knows every.
Speaker 2: This is so hard to grasp.
Speaker 2: He knows every possible outcome of every event.
Speaker 2: Just sit with that for a moment.
Speaker 2: Let me just make this really practical.
Speaker 2: If you are deciding on a career path and you know some of you college students and you're saying, man, I don't know what my major should be, or maybe I want to go to trade school or whatever, or maybe I want to go to trade school, or whatever, the Lord knows what will happen if you choose option A, and he knows what will happen if you choose option B.
Speaker 2: If you're deciding who to marry, uh-oh, the Lord knows what it's going to be like with option A, and the Lord knows what's going to happen if you marry this other person.
Speaker 2: He knows every possible outcome.
Speaker 2: So, with that in mind, let me ask how arrogant is it not to seek the Lord on your decisions?
Speaker 2: Do you think, if you know the Lord, that you might want to ask Him before you make life-changing decisions?
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it might not hurt you to ask him about everything, because the Lord knows things that you'll never know, that you cannot possibly know.
Speaker 2: God is omniscient.
Speaker 2: Thirdly, what we see here is that God is sovereign.
Speaker 2: You know Judah's exile.
Speaker 2: What we see, god prophesied it.
Speaker 2: It didn't take him by surprise.
Speaker 2: And now God, through Isaiah, he tells the people that by the Lord's decree, that he would ensure that they all get back to the promised land.
Speaker 2: He's sovereign.
Speaker 2: God is sovereign.
Speaker 2: Look at me.
Speaker 2: You are not in control.
Speaker 2: You think you run the world.
Speaker 2: You think by your decisions you can thwart the plans and promises of God.
Speaker 2: Give me a break.
Speaker 2: You don't know the God of the Bible if you think that.
Speaker 2: See the exiles here's to whom Isaiahaiah is writing.
Speaker 2: They're reading these words and they see the strength of babylon and they're weak and they're defeated.
Speaker 2: And the question must be how do we know that god can carry out what he says he, what he says he's going to do?
Speaker 2: How can he defeat Babylon?
Speaker 2: And Isaiah tells him Look at verse 15.
Speaker 2: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, not just Babylon.
Speaker 2: The nations, plural, a drop in a bucket and are accounted as dust on the scales.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 2: Plural, a drop in a bucket and are accounted as dust on the scales.
Speaker 2: Listen, how can god decree to judah that I'm taking you out under the strong, from under the strong arm of babylon, and I'm going to bring you back to the land?
Speaker 2: How can the lord know, decree it and make sure it happens because he's sovereign.
Speaker 2: And Israel looks at strong, mighty Babylon and they go there's no way.
Speaker 2: And Isaiah says behold your God.
Speaker 2: He says all the nations, all these tyrannies collectively, they're like a drop in a bucket.
Speaker 2: So you take a bucket of water and you pour it out and then you know there remains just a few little drops.
Speaker 2: You take that final drop and you put it on the end of the finger, your finger, and that's what the nations are to God.
Speaker 2: We see nations like North Korea and Russia and Iran and we feel threatened and we wonder what will happen if they grow more powerful and develop more nuclear weapons.
Speaker 2: And Isaiah says you know, we look at them and go, oh, what's going to happen?
Speaker 2: And what God says is this you take all those countries in every other tyrannical nation all together and compared to God.
Speaker 2: Are you you kidding me?
Speaker 2: They're a joke.
Speaker 2: They're but a drop of water in comparison to the greatness and power of our God.
Speaker 2: Listen to me Nothing in the universe happens without God's knowledge, without His permission, and nothing can thwart His plans or decrees.
Speaker 2: So quit worrying about everything that happens in your life, because I'm pretty sure your Bible says in Romans, chapter 8, that God works all things together for the good of those who love God and according to His purpose.
Speaker 2: See, some of you think that your trial today has taken God by surprise.
Speaker 2: It hasn't.
Speaker 2: And he's got a purpose for it.
Speaker 2: In 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, paul writes these words.
Speaker 2: He says that these things, these trials, these tribulations, are working together to prepare for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison.
Speaker 2: The Lord had a plan for the exile.
Speaker 2: Judah must have thought this generation man.
Speaker 2: Is God sleeping at the throne?
Speaker 2: Why would he let us be taken captive by this pagan empire?
Speaker 2: And God reveals I have a plan and I'm going to bring you out.
Speaker 2: Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Speaker 2: In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He'll direct your path.
Speaker 2: Proverbs 3, beginning in verse 5.
Speaker 2: God says to Judah I'm sovereign.
Speaker 2: Babylon's nothing for me.
Speaker 2: Can I just say to you today?
Speaker 2: I know some people are against you, but if God be for you, who can be against you?
Speaker 2: Right, all right.
Speaker 2: So God is all-powerful, he is all-knowing and he is sovereign.
Speaker 2: Beloved, we do not serve a puny God.
Speaker 2: Did you hear me smile at me?
Speaker 2: We don't serve a puny god.
Speaker 2: And this begs the question how do we respond to his greatness?
Speaker 2: Well, it's not like this oh yeah, that's.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 2: Beloved, we ought to be taken back.
Speaker 2: We ought to be in awe of our great God.
Speaker 2: Here's how we respond we cast off idols and we worship our great God alone.
Speaker 2: Does the God that Isaiah describes here sound like someone that you would consult or make second in your life?
Speaker 2: Does that God the one who holds the universe in the span of His hand, the one that can cup the entirety of the waters that cover the earth in His palm does that sound like a God who would be okay being second place in your life, or that you should make second place in your life, or that you should make second place in your life?
Speaker 2: So in verse 16, isaiah says Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
Speaker 2: Lebanon in the ancient world was known for its timber, and what Isaiah says is that he says to Judah if you want to make an altar and sacrifice worthy of our great God, all the wood and all the animals in that tree dominated region would not suffice to show the worthiness of our God.
Speaker 2: Isaiah is reminding them listen, god is worthy of all praise and all honor and all glory.
Speaker 2: To him.
Speaker 2: Be the glory and power forever and ever.
Speaker 2: Amen, amen.
Speaker 2: You know why we sing songs like Behold Our God?
Speaker 2: Because we're supposed to worship God in spirit and in truth, and we need to sing songs that make most much of God.
Speaker 2: Why do we sing, you know?
Speaker 2: You may say, well, you know, we could come in here and I'd be happy if we didn't sing.
Speaker 2: Just give me the teaching.
Speaker 2: Or you may come in and say, well, I don't like these kind of songs, or it's too loud, or it's too soft, or this or that.
Speaker 2: I've got great news for you this morning.
Speaker 2: It'll help you.
Speaker 2: If that's your attitude, we're not worshiping you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who cares if you like it, beloved.
Speaker 2: If we're singing about the true and holy and omnipotent, omniscient God, you ought to open your mouth and sing.
Speaker 2: You ought to open your mouth and sing because he alone is worthy of our worship.
Speaker 2: Look at verses 18 through 20.
Speaker 2: Worship is more than singing.
Speaker 2: By the way, the word worship in the Hebrew and in the Greek it means literally to lay before the Lord, prostrate before God, which is a sign of submission.
Speaker 2: That's what worship is.
Speaker 2: Worship is, and so if you're singing this morning, but you're not laid before the Lord.
Speaker 2: Going God, everything I have is yours.
Speaker 2: Every decision I make, I want it to be ordered by you.
Speaker 2: The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.
Speaker 2: If that's not you and you're singing, you might as well shut up, because it means nothing to God.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: You think he needs your song?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm a really great singer.
Speaker 2: Listen, all the timber in Lebanon and all the animals there wouldn't suffice for an altar and sacrifice, so I don't care.
Speaker 2: You could have whomever.
Speaker 2: Mariah Carey, I don't even know who the new people are who can sing Adele, give me somebody that's a great singer.
Speaker 2: It's hard to find them these days.
Speaker 2: They're all so over.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, you could have the top singers in our world and you think God's impressed by them?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: He has angelic choirs around his throne 24-7 saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
Speaker 2: You know what makes our worship pleasing to God?
Speaker 2: It's not because, oh, we can sing so good.
Speaker 2: Do you hear that run?
Speaker 2: I did with my voice.
Speaker 2: Do you hear that guitar solo?
Speaker 2: Oh, I really played the you know piano.
Speaker 2: Right, come on.
Speaker 2: I think that impresses God.
Speaker 2: What the Lord wants in our worship is our heart.
Speaker 2: And so here's what Isaiah says in 18 through 20.
Speaker 2: To whom, then, will you liken God?
Speaker 2: What likeness compare with him?
Speaker 2: An idol A craftsman cast it out and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for its silver chains.
Speaker 2: He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot.
Speaker 2: He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set it up.
Speaker 2: An idol that will not move Most people in the ancient world.
Speaker 2: When they crafted an idol, they believed that a particular deity attached itself to that idol and they would bow down to that silly thing.
Speaker 2: And Isaiah here, he's reminding these exiles and us of the futility of idol worship.
Speaker 2: He's asking who are you going to compare to?
Speaker 2: God, the God who created and sustains all things?
Speaker 2: That God, you're going to put a little graven image before Him.
Speaker 2: You're going to worship an idol.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: How futile?
Speaker 2: You may look at this text and go well, this is irrelevant, like, I hope, none of you bowed down before a little graven image this morning, a little bobblehead or whatever.
Speaker 2: No, we don't do that, we're more sophisticated than that.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you this we have our own idols that we metaphorically bow down to every day.
Speaker 2: What is an idol?
Speaker 2: Let me just quote Tim Keller first.
Speaker 2: He defines an idol as anything that is more important to you than God and absorbs your heart and imagination.
Speaker 2: You say, well, god's most important to me Is he.
Speaker 2: Is he who you think about most?
Speaker 2: Is he who drives your life?
Speaker 2: Drives your life, keller also says.
Speaker 2: He says an idol is anything that you look at in your life and say, if I lost that thing, then life would be without meaning.
Speaker 2: So I would say an idol is that which becomes the driving force in your life.
Speaker 2: It's from that which you derive meaning.
Speaker 2: So there there are many idols.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned earlier, there are theological idols.
Speaker 2: These are false views, our own constructions of god, distorted views of god.
Speaker 2: If you're not worshiping the god of the bible, he wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Speaker 2: Doctrine's important you need to worship the God of the Bible, otherwise it's an idol.
Speaker 2: There are sexual idols.
Speaker 2: Beauty is an idol in our culture, all kinds of perversions.
Speaker 2: There are spiritual idols, witchcraft and the occult.
Speaker 2: These are people who look at the horoscope and think that's where they're going to get their answers.
Speaker 2: Don't touch the horoscope.
Speaker 2: The stars don't know your future.
Speaker 2: God knows your future.
Speaker 2: They're economic idols.
Speaker 2: We know the love of money and possessions.
Speaker 2: There are racial and national idols Racism, nationalism, ethnic pride.
Speaker 2: There are family idols, where we put our own spouse or children before the Lord.
Speaker 2: There are religious idols, moralism or legalism.
Speaker 2: Israel's idols crushed them.
Speaker 2: They couldn't save them.
Speaker 2: Idolatry here's what it does.
Speaker 2: It makes even good things ultimate things and then those good things enslave us and they never satisfy our heart.
Speaker 2: I'm almost done here.
Speaker 2: Please don't miss.
Speaker 2: It's so important.
Speaker 2: Is there anything wrong with money?
Speaker 2: No, I hope you make lots of it and give lots of it.
Speaker 2: Okay, nothing wrong with money.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you this it's a horrible God.
Speaker 2: That's why people you know somebody becomes a millionaire and they want multi-millions.
Speaker 2: They have multi-millions, they want to be a billionaire.
Speaker 2: They end up getting more money than they could ever spend and they're miserable.
Speaker 2: Because it's a horrible God and if money's your idol, it will enslave you.
Speaker 2: It will drive you to do things you never thought you'd do.
Speaker 2: You will exploit people to get more money.
Speaker 2: You will lie and do shady business deals to fatten your bank account.
Speaker 2: Work is something you ought to be passionate about.
Speaker 2: Is anybody passionate about your work?
Speaker 2: I'm passionate about mine, but when you make career, the ultimate thing, it becomes an idol.
Speaker 2: And here's what happens it will enslave you and you will neglect other areas in your life.
Speaker 2: I just don't have time for Bible study and prayer.
Speaker 2: I got to work and you'll neglect your family.
Speaker 2: Your children will grow up and resent you because your work, work, work.
Speaker 2: Your job that God has given you as a blessing, will become your master.
Speaker 2: That happens so often.
Speaker 2: Sex Sex is a gift from God.
Speaker 2: Think about that.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful within the confines of heterosexual marriage.
Speaker 2: That's what it was designed for.
Speaker 2: But if it becomes your God, as it is to many people today, it will enslave you to all kinds of perversions.
Speaker 2: Listen to me, young people, I just sense the Lord here.
Speaker 2: Don't you ever send a picture of your body to another teenager but you say, well, it's not intercourse, it's fine, it is an abomination to the Lord.
Speaker 2: That is your body and it is meant for you.
Speaker 2: It is a temple of the Holy Spirit and it is meant for your future husband.
Speaker 2: Don't you cheapen yourself and if a guy ever asks you that young ladies, you run as far from them that young man doesn't love you, he doesn't respect you.
Speaker 2: You don't even need to kiss somebody outside of your husband.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be legalistic.
Speaker 2: That was not in my notes.
Speaker 2: I would have had to you, pastor, priest, today you need to be saying that, right, he's amening me up here.
Speaker 2: Sexuality will become an idol and it will enslave you.
Speaker 2: Family is a gift from God.
Speaker 2: This one might shock you.
Speaker 2: Family is a gift from God.
Speaker 2: Like you know that part.
Speaker 2: But if we make family the ultimate thing, if it's the thing that we look to for value, you know what happens.
Speaker 2: Here's what we do.
Speaker 2: If that's the thing that we look to for value, you know what happens.
Speaker 2: Here's what we do.
Speaker 2: If that's you, you will put unrealistic expectation on your family and it'll crush them.
Speaker 2: Some of you.
Speaker 2: You're living vicariously through your children Because the way that you derive meaning is through their success and when they don't succeed, you can't bear it.
Speaker 2: You're not just disappointed, it crushes you because it's where you derive meaning and your children know it and you put so much pressure on them to be perfect.
Speaker 2: You know what you're asking.
Speaker 2: If you put family first in your life, you know what you're asking that spouse or child to be.
Speaker 2: You're asking them to be your Savior, and that's a weight no human being can bear.
Speaker 2: Do you get what I'm saying here?
Speaker 2: Idolatry will crush you.
Speaker 2: Anything you put before thery will crush you.
Speaker 2: Anything you put before the Lord will crush you.
Speaker 2: The renowned writer David Foster Wallace please listen to this, gosh, this is powerful.
Speaker 2: The renowned writer, david Foster Wallace eloquently made this point about idols crushing us.
Speaker 2: He made that point in his now famous commencement speech at Kenyon College.
Speaker 2: I'm going to read you his speech here, part of it he said.
Speaker 2: Part of it.
Speaker 2: He said everybody worships.
Speaker 2: The only choice we get is who or what we will worship.
Speaker 2: And he said the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of God to worship listen is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
Speaker 2: If you worship money and things, if they are what you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.
Speaker 2: It's the truth.
Speaker 2: Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before your loved ones finally plant you.
Speaker 2: Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you'll need even more power over others to numb you to your own fear.
Speaker 2: Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.
Speaker 2: David Foster Wallace crafted this speech from personal experience.
Speaker 2: He was not in any way a religious man, and he gave this commencement speech right at the height of his career as a best-selling author.
Speaker 2: Two years later, he took his own life.
Speaker 2: He was preaching from his heart.
Speaker 2: This non-religious man left us with some sobering and true words.
Speaker 2: Whatever you worship outside of God will eat you alive.
Speaker 2: Here's the big idea today, the greatness of God invites us to abandon our idols, as he alone is worthy of our trust and our worship.
Speaker 2: Here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 2: Just take a moment and ask the Lord.
Speaker 2: Just really search your heart.
Speaker 2: What are you putting above the Lord?
Speaker 2: We all struggle with this.
Speaker 2: Is it business?
Speaker 2: Is it your business?
Speaker 2: Is it money?
Speaker 2: Is it fame?
Speaker 2: Is it sexuality?
Speaker 2: Is it money?
Speaker 2: Is it fame?
Speaker 2: Is it sexuality?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 2: I would just invite you, if there's something you've put before the Lord, I would invite you to just think about the greatness of God, his omnipotence.
Speaker 2: Think about the universe and God just literally holding it in His hand and God just literally holding it in His hand.
Speaker 2: Here's what idols really are.
Speaker 2: Idols are created things that we make, the ultimate things.
Speaker 2: So those created things work, money, sex power, whatever it is.
Speaker 2: They're never going to satisfy you.
Speaker 2: But there is one, the one who created all things, who, today, if you will turn to Him and make Him the treasure of your heart, he'll turn your life around and he will satisfy you.
Speaker 2: And the only way, the only way that that can happen, the only way that we can be satisfied in God, is because of the work that Jesus Christ did at Calvary.
Speaker 2: In Ephesians 2.13 it says Now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off from God that's you and me were now brought near to Him by the blood of Christ.
Speaker 2: Listen, knowing about the omnipotence of God and the greatness of God is not going to transform your life, knowing that God personally will.
Speaker 2: So if you're ultimately driven by anyone or anything else this morning other than God, I invite you to abandon those idols and behold your God.