Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Galatians 5:20 – Why Is Idolatry a Work of the Flesh?
A. Because Idolatry is a Fleshly Worship
1. John 4:24 NASB “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
2. I want us to consider for the moment that the Old Testament Worship that the Israelites were commanded to observe, all of the fleshly worship, was never how God really wanted to be worshipped. All of it was designed to lead us to Christ, and lead us to a purer form of worship.
3. Romans 12:1-2 HCSB Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
4. I would like for us to also consider that worship that is primarily designed to please the flesh is close to, if not, a form of idolatry.
5. Romans 1:20 NASB For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
1. Notice the emphasis on “His Invisible Attributes”
B. Because Idolatry Worships Fleshly Creations
1. Romans 1:22-23 HCSB Claiming to be wise, they became fools (23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
C. Because Idolatry Leads to Sins of the Flesh
1. 1 Corinthians 10:7-8 HCSB (7) Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play. (8) Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day 23,000 people fell dead.
2. “Halley’s Bible Handbook” 1 Cor. 6: 9-20; “Venus (Aphrodite – PDH) was the principal Deity of Corinth. Her temple was one of the most magnificent buildings in the city. In it a thousand Priestesses, Public Prostitutes, were kept, at public expense, there always ready for Immoral Indulgence, as worship to their Goddess.”
D. Because Idolatry Makes A Fleshly Creation the Creator
1. Please notice in the following text how man has replaced God in the role of creator.
- Isaiah 44:2 NASB Thus says the LORD who made [‛âśâh] you And formed [yâtsar] you from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
- Isaiah 44:21 NASB “Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed [yâtsar] you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.
- Isaiah 44:24 NASB Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed [yâtsar] you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker [‛âśâh] of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,
- Isaiah 44:9-12 NASB Those who fashion [yâtsar] a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame. (10) Who has fashioned [yâtsar] a god or cast an idol to no profit? (11) Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame. (12) The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning [yâtsar] it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.
E. Because Idolatry is Worship Created By the Flesh
1. By that I mean idolatry is a creation of man, not of God.
Comments