And then we will move from there. Let me find my place. Galatians chapter 5, find your place in verse 16 and you'll find the right place to land there, Galatians 5 and verse 16. The Bible tells us here, this I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you be led of the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, And that's where we're up to on our list, working through the works of the flesh. We've got to this place of idolatry. It goes on with the list, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. We've got a bit of a way to go, don't we? A bit of a list to get through, and we're on our Are we our third or our fourth? I think tonight might be the fourth sermon on idolatry. The Bible has a bit to say about it and it's important that we understand it in detail because the Bible says that these works of the flesh lust against the Spirit so that you as a Christian cannot do the things that you ought because your flesh is getting in the way of the Spirit of God. And there's many times where we need to figure out what is it that's getting in the way of me serving God. Look, I don't really like this turn of phrase, but it's convenient for the illustration. For me, having a successful Christian life, a victorious Christian life in different areas of my servant God. Now, ultimately, the victory is in Christ. That's where your victory is in your Christian life. But nonetheless, the Word of God sheds light on the things in your flesh that lust against the Spirit so that you cannot do the things that you ought. And so we started here and we looked at idolatry, witchcraft and hatred and we saw that in Saul's life. We saw those three aspects working together in Saul's life and it's by no accident that the Lord has put them together. We've spent some time looking at how stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry, and covetousness is as idolatry, and how our stubbornness can slide in there and be that thing that is the idolatry in our life that's inhibiting our obedience to the Spirit. and how rebellion can be that. We're going to spend some time tonight in the book of 1 Corinthians. It's interesting, as you step into the New Testament, you look for this topic of idolatry. There's a few references in Romans, deals with it a bit. 1 Peter, I believe, deals with it a bit. Ephesians has got a little bit to say. 1 Corinthians has a lot to say. 1 Corinthians, you step into 1 Corinthians and there's chapter after chapter, not verse after verse, but chapter after chapter that deals with idolatry. So what we're going to do tonight is just take the counsel from 1 Corinthians as a whole. Here we have Paul writing a letter to the church at Corinth and go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1, and we better have a word of prayer shortly, haven't we? 1 Corinthians 1, once you've found your place, we'll pray, and then we'll continue on with this sermon tonight. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10, and let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Lord and King, we do thank you and praise you. My Lord, I need your help tonight. As we look to consider 1 Corinthians somewhat as a bit of a whole on this topic, and we can't take into account everything tonight, Lord, but I pray as we look at these chapters, you might lead us, you might guide us, and you'd help us, dear Lord, as we look to understand your word and apply it to our lives. Help us, Lord, in this area of idolatry, that, Lord, we would understand it, we would identify it in our own lives, and, Lord, as the context of these passages bring out, that we'd identify it in our brother's life, that we might be mindful of it with one another. So we thank you, Lord, we praise you, and ask you to help us in Jesus' name. Amen. So 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10 says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Paul's writing to the church at Corinth dealing with problems. It's a troubleshooting letter. It's a letter where he's going, let me deal with the issues that are going on in Corinth. And the first one he deals with is the contention in the church, the division in the church. And he flows on to other issues within the congregation, other great sin and amongst its number. and then on to answering their questions that they sought from Him as they communicated with Him. But you're stepping into a letter where Paul's saying, I'm going to try and deal with some things here. And you're stepping into a town, into a church, where idolatry in its purest form was a big problem in that community. There was idol worship, there was worship of false gods, of demigods, of pagan deities, and the church is growing and people are getting saved and coming into the congregation from all of those different influences. And so Paul writes to the church that the church might be equipped to deal with these things. In 1 Corinthians 5, it's a few chapters in, We don't have the time of course to take into account the whole context of the book and try and bring that into a sermon but we are going to try and focus on these chapters as the Lord deals with, as Paul deals with and the Lord through Paul deals with the problems in the church. So 1 Corinthians 5, In verse 1, he says, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. And he starts to deal with one of the issues in the church. And in verse 10, we find this. In 1 Corinthians 5, verse 10. Or verse 9, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. He's continuing on dealing with the fornication in the church. And he said, I've already written to you that you shouldn't keep company with those that are in fornication. But then he clarifies it and says, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. And it's that phrase there that brings us to this passage, right? He said, I've written to you, and I'm not saying you shouldn't keep company with the, we'll go with the idolaters, it's the focus of our sermon tonight, with the idolaters of this world. That's not who Paul's talking about. And he reasons it, for then must your needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a, and we can just jump straight to, idolater. That's the context of what we're looking at, right? There's the list of the others, fornicator, covetousness, railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. But we're looking at the idolater. But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be an idolater." See, when it comes to the things of idolatry, you don't need to just be aware of idolatry in your life. But in 1 Corinthians here, Paul is saying, as brothers and sisters in Christ, you should be aware of idolatry in your brother's life. some accountability one to another. What is it? We don't like that thing of accountability. We don't like that thing of somebody looking over our fence to see what's going on in our backyard. And I think that's a bit of a change. It's always human nature, but I think that's changing even more and more. You ever noticed how neighborhoods have changed? You go back into the old neighborhoods and they had a three foot high fence of chain wire mesh, cyclone mesh, right? Never mind seeing what was going on in the neighbor's yard, half the time the kids were playing in the neighbor's yard. Whereas now, you step into a neighbor, into a neighborhood and the first thing they do is put up a six foot, seven foot high fence so the people can't see in, see what's going on in there. We put these, we don't like this idea of people looking into our lives. And as Christians, we're often protective of that. We don't want you looking in too close. If you're looking in too close, you might see some things that we don't want you to see. Well, Paul says here, I don't write unto you to not keep company with the idolaters and fornicators, the wickedness in this world. If you're going to cut yourself off from the wickedness in this world, you're going to have to cut yourself off from the world. you know, to get yourself off the planet. You've just got to deal with the fact that you're in business in that sense. You've got customers, you've got clients, you've got workmates, you've got employees, you've got employers, that they're all the things listed here. That's who you're going to be beside. And more still. And that's a part of being in the world and being a light of the world and a light to the world. And the Lord hasn't called us to come out of that, but in our church, with our brothers, the Lord says, there is something, you should know what's going on in your brother's life. And every now and then, you'll come across a situation where there's a brother that you need to go, I just can't keep company with you. Because of the fact that you say you are a child of God, you're a Christian, you call yourself a brother, and in your life, there is fornication. Or there is covetousness. Or in your life you are an idolater. Or a railer. Or a drunken. Or an extortioner. I can't just sit and have dinner with you like everything's okay. I'm not even going to sit and have a meal with you. Because there's things you need to get right in your life. Because there's a broken fellowship between us and you. This is This is Paul's instruction on idolatry. Now, I tell you, if you're going to say to somebody, look, I can't sit and have a meal with you because you're a brother in Christ and there's idolatry in your life, you better have a solid understanding of what idolatry is, shouldn't you? You don't want to label something idolatry when it's not. You don't want to go putting a tag on there just because you've got a Bible verse and you're wrongly applying what it is, right? We've got to be careful of these things. We want to be real careful. You notice we looked back, stubbornness is as the sin of idolatry, right? That's important. I'll tell you how I would apply that. A brother that is stubborn isn't necessarily in idolatry, it's just as bad as, it's the equal to. So maybe there's grounds where I can go, look, your stubbornness, I can still be beside you and encourage you and still be, you know, but maybe I don't need to separate from you because stubbornness is as idolatry. You're going to have to figure that out. But the Lord hasn't accidentally used these words. He hasn't accidentally said, this is idolatry and this is as idolatry. That's very deliberate in the Lord's wording as He works through things. And so here, there's an accountability to the brother. For what have I to do to judge them? I can't always read this one, a little bit awkward. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without God judgeth." So he's dealing here with the fornicators in the world, those that are outside the church, those that are over there, the Lord will judge them, let the Lord take care of that. But this house, You ought to judge this house. You ought to have some mindfulness of that. You know what, we understand that as little children. Your kids understand that. Because your kids sit in your lounge room and say to their brother or their sister, don't let dad catch you doing that. Because they know that I have a place in honoring of my father to say to my brother, dad ain't going to approve of you doing that. Likewise in the church. You and I ought to have enough love for God and love for our fellow, our brothers and sisters in Christ to go to one another and say, God's not going to appreciate you doing that. God's not approving of that in your life. That judging within. Yeah, we jump to judge not lest you be judged. Well, there's a context to that. If you're going to judge, judge righteous judgment. Because you're going to be judged on that whether you do it or not. You understand that? God's going to judge righteous judgment against your life whether you judge anybody else or not. So if you have a brother that loves you, a sister that loves you, that comes and says, hey, are you sure things are where they're supposed to be in your life? You want to be careful of this? You want to be careful of that? That's not something we should recoil from out of a desire to be right with God. That's something we should look for. And Paul says that should be a part of the church. When it comes to this thing of idolatry, the Bible says you need to know it, and not just idolatry, but fornication, covetousness, extortioners, railers, like all these things, you need to understand what that is and you should have a look out for one another. A care for one another. Idolatry, when it comes to your brother, the Lord's The Lord says that shouldn't be suffered in the church. But, go over a chapter to chapter six. And in chapter six, and we'll pick up the reading in verse one, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world, and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? You know what the Lord's saying here? If there's human relationships, there's going to be strife, right? You're going to have issues with one another. And as Christians, we should go to one another to help sort out our fights, to help sort out our differences. As a pastor, I've reached out to other pastors as we've worked through things and said, hey, can you be someone that I can lean on if a fight breaks out here? I've made phone calls going, hey, look, the dust is starting to stir up. It looks like a fight might be about to break out. Can I lean on you to come in and judge between these circumstances? And we haven't had to go down that road. But that's what the Christian church is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a place where God says here that the saints shall judge the world. You know I talked this morning in Sunday school that your prophecy, your understanding of prophecy is going to help you with your doctrine. The Bible's justification here of why you should be judging one another and not judging as in looking down on but working through each other's problems and leaning on one another to work through each other's problems is because of the expectation that when Christ rules and reigns for a thousand years on this earth, that the saints will judge with him in that millennial reign. And if he's counting on us to judge this world and reign in this world, then just trust God's plan about the church sorting out the problems amongst Christians. You don't go to law against your brother. don't start lawsuits and criminal, it's not the idea of someone breaking the law and the police have no place there, that's different. Now, if the police are coming in to investigate a breaking of the governmental law, that's not the context here. This is brother against brother, this is civil suits, if you like. of having the brothers and sisters in Christ to figure that out. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? Know not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? but brother goeth to law with brother and that before the unbelievers. He said here is the children of the Most High God and they're not sorting out their problems before God, they're not sorting out their problems with one another, they're going to the unbelievers to sort out their problems. If then ye have judgements of things pertaining to this life, set them to..." Oh, that was where we were up to. "...but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers." Verse 7, "...now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? He starts to deal here with the judgment itself. Have a look at this. There's a fault because you go to law with one another and what you should be doing is willing to take it and suffer the wrong. To just have wrong done to you and not need to get recompense of your brother, but suffer yourselves to be defrauded. And that's the judgment that should come. Here is why the house of God should be, and the people of God is what it's talking about here, should be a place in this judging between. Because when it comes to a child of God, judging between a problem between two people, the counsel that you give should not be, they've done you wrong and they never should have, so they have to pay you back tenfold or whatever. That shouldn't be the sole judgment. You know what has to be a part of this judgment? They've done you wrong, but you should be willing to suffer that wrong for the love of your brother. The world ain't never going to counsel that. No court in Australia is ever going to say, yes, they did you wrong, but if you're a child of God that's been forgiven of your sins, then it is incumbent upon you to forgive them of their sins. No court in Australia, no worldly court's ever going to counsel that. But that's godly counsel. And that's the grounds whereby Paul says, and you go to the world to get their judgment on these things? Nay, you do wrong, and defraud that your brethren. And in verse 9, this is where we start getting back to the idolatry. Nay, you do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? It's talking about the world. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. You know, He's saying, this is the crowd you're going to, to try and find some judgment, to try and find some justice. He said, this is who you were, but ye have been washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. He's saying here, you're going off to the world, to the idolaters, to get some godly judgment in your circumstance, He said, you've got this all bent out of shape and wrong, Corin. What you need to be doing is getting some godly judgment in the circumstance. Go to the least esteemed in the church and he'll do a better job than the biggest sinner out in the world. Get some righteous judgment in the circumstance. Get some godly counsel in the circumstance. And as he gives this counsel, He says that's who the world is and that's who you were and don't expect godliness out of that. What you were, you've been washed from, you've been sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so cutting back to idolatry, you know what he says? He says, idolatry in the church, along with fornication and extortion, there's all this other list, but idolatry in the church, you ought to separate from that. You ought to go to your brother and say, that idolatry, God's not happy with that. But the idolatry in the world, You don't just ignore it and go, oh, well, that's the world and that's OK. You just acknowledge that it's there. And the fact that it's there, you don't have to avoid the world. But that doesn't mean we should be running to the world to fix our problems. It's like the Lord goes, OK, here's idolatry in the church. You need to separate from that. You don't need to separate from the idolatry in the world. That's there. You don't need to separate from that. That's just going to be there. You just got to live with that. but you should separate from it in the church. If it's in the people of God, you should cut it off. If it's in the world, just expect it to be in the world. But then the next chapter, but don't ignore the fact that it's in the world and treat it like nothing. Yes, it's in the world and you've got to live with it in the world, but that doesn't mean you have to run to it and embrace it as some good, some thing to be ignored and that doesn't matter. You've got to understand who the world is that we're dealing with. And so, here it is in your brother, you need to separate. Here it is in the world, and you need to be mindful that such were some of you, and God saved you out of that, and that's what He's looking to do with the world, and you don't need to run to it, but you don't need to fix it either, you just need to lead them to Christ so they might get saved and washed in the blood. Go with me to chapter 8, 1 Corinthians chapter 8, And like I say, it would be good to look at chapter 7. It would be good to look to chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, but we ain't got the time. So just read through those because that context matters. But for tonight, jump to chapter eight and verse one. Now, is touching things offered unto idols? And here we get to old-fashioned idolatry. So far, we've been looking at idolatry in the things of the heart. Here, we're getting to the old-fashioned idolatry of having some statue fashioned out of stone that you look to as your deity, okay? That's what is being dealt with here in 1 Corinthians chapter eight. And in verse 1, as touching things offered under idols and making sacrifices, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And he said when it comes to this thing of things offered under idols, your focus doesn't need to be dealing with knowledge but with charity and you read through how he deals with it here and he encourages the church to be charitable to the community they're living in and apply their knowledge in a way of charity not in a way of pride, right? If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." He steps into this thing of idolatry and he says, here's the thing, when it comes to idolatry, when it comes to meat offered under idols, when it comes to the world sacrificing under idols, it's all nothing. It all comes to nothing. It's a dumb idol that can do nothing for them. You know what stubbornness is? It's as idolatry and your pride, your determination to have it your way, it's a dumb idol that can do nothing for you. It's just going to lead you astray and it can't help you in any way, shape or form. You can't add one cubit to your stature, you can't add a hair to your head, it doesn't matter how stubborn you are, it ain't going to help you when it comes to your standing before the Lord. So it becomes like as idolatry. But likewise, we have this knowledge that these idols, they're nothing. Doesn't bother me going to a Chinese restaurant where there's a Buddha up on the wall and a piece of fruit sitting in there. So long as they don't make a thing out of it to me, I'll eat the Shanghai steak, that's all good. It might have been offered under idols, but I don't need to ask, I don't need to bother because that's just nothing but a little gold statue with no power. There's nothing there for me to fear, nothing for me to be concerned about, right? Because there is but one God. And so this is idolatry. How do you deal with idolatry? You know, in knowledge, you understand that there is but one God. And all this idol worship, it doesn't matter what it is, it amounts to nothing. And in today's society, the things that mankind look to, They're just idols of a modern time. Your bank account, the world's financial status, their social status, their opinion of man, these are all just idols whereby people look to fashion their lives after these things. But they have no power. There's no deity there to influence anything. And so, in it, the Lord says, just walk in that knowledge. Just walk in the knowledge that there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ. But here's where the charity comes in. How be it there is not in every man that knowledge. For some with conscience of the idol under this hour eat as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. So how's the charity? Because you got this knowledge that it's nothing, it's just a dumb idol. But you know what? You're living in a community where there isn't that knowledge. And it gets down to the end of it. We'll just jump forward for the sake of time. Verse 12, sorry, verse 13. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. He talks here about, let's talk about the meat offered under idols. If my brother, or if someone in the community, they make a big thing that this is meat offered unto an idol, and you need to be mindful of that, then at that point, for his sake, for testimony's sake, for conscience's sake, not for yours, but for theirs, the Lord says, you shouldn't eat it. But it's not because all of a sudden this meat's dangerous. It's not all of a sudden because the halal Tim Tam has got some power behind it. But it's because your brother, or your brother in marriage, in humanity, your fellow man is going, there's something to be mindful of here and you want to make a testimony that, no, no, no, I'll not cause you to stumble and encourage you in your idolatry. Even though I have liberty, I won't walk in it. To the point where Paul said, if it means I don't eat meat for the rest of my days, if it means I just live on a poultry diet for the sake of my brother, now that's charity. By any means I might win some. That's the heart that Paul's teaching here. So, idolatry in my brother. We should mark it and separate from it. But, mind you, that goes both ways. That if idolatry comes into your life, the church is supposed to mark it, go, you're not right with God, we can't just pretend like everything's okay. We need to separate from that and it's not for the sake of separation, 2 Corinthians deals with that, it's for the sake of restoration. That's what separation's for, to restore such in one. But here, in all of idolatry, we need to be mindful that there's only one God, But 1 Corinthians doesn't stop there. Go over to chapter 10. Chapter 10 verse 7 says, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And it's talking about those in the Old Testament, the accounts in the Old Testament that were written for our learning. It says, neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, who were destroyed of the Destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he stand, take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted, above that you are able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, and we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold, Israel after the flesh, and he deals with Israel for a bit. Verse 21, ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. And I skipped over verse 20. Go back there. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. That's a conflicting verse almost. Abstain from idolatry in your brother, like separate from idolatry in your brother and abstain from it in your own life. In the world, expect it and deal with it in the way you should and that it's the foolishness of idolatry. In the knowledge of idolatry understand that there is no God behind these things, there is only one God that is God and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk with that knowledge and that understanding and walk with that charity that not everyone has the understanding that there is but one God and your purpose is to point them to Christ. But yet When they offer sacrifices, when the Gentiles offer sacrifices under dumb idols, who they are actually sacrificing unto is devils. That there is a spirit behind these things. You understand what that means? If there is a spirit at work behind a dumb Buddhist idol, Or in Corinth's day, an idol of the Greek god Diana, or some other Greek demigod, that whilst it's just a dumb idol that has no power, there is a devil behind that. Because there is a devil that walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And there is a host of the devil and his angels that are at work in this world, And when this world makes sacrifices unto idols, ultimately the Lord says what they're doing is sacrificing unto the devil. Now let me ask you something. Skip forward 2,000 years into Western society and we say these things, that we don't have these dumb idols that we form out of wood and stone anymore, but yet we can recognize things that rightfully, scripturally would be identified as idols in our life that we make sacrifices for instead of our service to God. If in these dumb idols there is a devil behind it, what is it behind these modern idols? The devils haven't gone anywhere. He's still at work. And so we recognize the fingerprints of Satan across the idolatry that is in this world and the Gentiles? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Yet we live in a society today, especially here in Gladstone, where I don't think there's a better verse to describe Gladstone, to describe high-industry Queensland. Gain the whole world and just forget about what it costs. Forget about their soul. Never think about it. Someone was sharing testimony the other day. I think it was Rob was sharing testimony the other day about a conversation he had with a 20-year-old man. Have you ever thought about God? Never thought about God. Never given God a second thought in his life. What is that? His focus has been on gaining the whole world. That's not just humanism. That's not just human nature. That's not just modern society. That's some sacrifices for the idols in his life, the things that he deems most important, and there is a devil behind that. There's a devil at work behind that mindset, and that devil is trying to distract your children, from what should be important in their life. It's to try and distract you from where your focus should be in your life. It's trying to distract this world from where the focus there should be in this life. And these things of idolatry, we need to be mindful of the devil in it. We need to be mindful of our brother when it comes to idolatry. We need to be mindful of the world when it comes to idolatry. We need to be mindful of the Lord when it comes to idolatry. We need to be mindful of the devil when it comes to idolatry. That there is these players in the midst of it. Verse 6, we didn't start there. We started in verse 7. These things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And remember where we started? That the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so you cannot do the things that you ought. you will lust after, desire after, have a natural affinity, a human nature affinity for things that you ought not have. And so, what's the Lord say? These were for our examples that we should not lust after evil things, like idolaters did, where we should flee from idolatry. In verse 20, the things which the Gentiles sacrificed unto were sacrificed unto devils, and you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. The two are contrary, the one to the other. And they should not be the focus in our life. One more chapter in 1 Corinthians 12. We should be mindful of our brother, we should be mindful of the world, we should be mindful of the Lord, we should be mindful of the devil. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 1 and 2. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Here he's moving on to how to serve the Lord through spiritual gifts. We've been spending the time on Wednesday night looking in detail at the spiritual gifts. And he says here, you know that you were Gentiles carried away under these dumb idols even as you were led. Wherefore, because you were Gentiles that were carried away under these dumb idols, even as you were led, wherefore, I give you to understand, I got some things I need to speak to you about when it comes to spiritual gifts because of the propensity you had in your history to be carried away by dumb idols. You were given to them. You were Gentiles where these things carried you away. And he says that, stepping into spiritual gifts, trying to set them up, going, because of your natural propensity, and do you know what? It's been, I think Les was teaching on this, and he talked about the fact that up on the temple of Diana, up on that temple that overlooks Corinth, that there was a practice up there that was a lot like modern day tongues today. and this tongue's language. And so as Paul's teaching on God's actual provision, he takes time to deal with the devil's makeshift. As he deals with what God has actually provided for his people, he deals also with the devil's counterfeit. And he said, you've been carried away with the devil's counterfeit. You know what we need to be mindful of as we look at idolatry? We need to be mindful of you were given to it. It was a stumbling block for you. There was idolatry in your life before you were saved because there were things that took a higher priority than God himself. And what your idol was might be different to what my idol was, but you know it. And you need to be mindful of that, old man. You need to be mindful of what you were, that you were Gentiles and you were carried away under these dumb idols. You don't want to look at idolatry and go, oh, my hands are clean, I don't need to worry about that. What you need to do is go, okay, idolatry, where was it in my life? What was it that was one of the things that was an idol in my life that I need to guard myself against today? See, look, the devil doesn't have omniscience or omnipotency. He's not all-powerful, he's not all-knowing. But he's been waging a war against those created in God's image for 6,000 years. And he's learnt a thing or two in that time about human nature. And you come at the devil with your 40 years of life experience you don't have a look in and there is a devil behind this issue of idolatry and he knows that what man was consumed with once that that lust will lust against the new man in him. I can testify it in my life There was but one time where in my walk, and I praise the Lord first, not everyone's testimony, but there was one time in my life before I was saved where I didn't pray, I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure I gave room to the devil where I said, well, if you'll bring it, I'll have it. Well, I'm pretty sure I had a bit of a conversation with the devil in that sense. I didn't get a minute down the road before the devil had provided. And when I saw it, it freaked me out. And by the grace of God, somehow I said, I'm out of here because I know where that came from. And it terrified the fool out of me. And I'm not teaching you a doctrine. I'm not teaching you a truth from God's word. What I'm saying to you is there is a devil that walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And his purpose is to lead you astray, and your children astray, and this community astray. And if he got you off on a tangent when you were lost, he knows that thing will lust against the new man in you today. And so we need to be mindful of who we were. But not just who we were. There's one other reference to idolatry written to the church at Corinth. And it's in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Just one other reference. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We'll pick up the reading in verse 11. O ye Corinthians, Our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. When it comes to idolatry, we need to be mindful of our brother. We need to be mindful of the world. We need to be mindful of God in this thing of idolatry that there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be mindful of the devil that is at work. We need to be mindful of who we were and guard ourselves against the idolatry that was in our lives. But the last thing Paul says to the church of Corinth is you need to be mindful of who you are and you're a new creature in Christ Jesus. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And what communion? The devil ain't got no place there. Idolatry has got no place there. This is the Lord's dwelling place. Do you know what happened when something unclean entered into the Holy of Holies? The Lord just drug it dead. He said, no, this is mine. The unclean ain't coming in. Better tie a rope around your leg if you're unclean going into the holies and holies, because you ain't walking out. You'll have to get dragged out of there. God didn't say that, but that was their practice. Such was their expectation that God would keep his temple clean. That you go waltzing on in there without any mindfulness of the holiness of God, God will just wipe you out. This thing of idolatry, it's not that far away from us. The Lord warns the church to be mindful of it in our congregation. We'd be a fool to ignore that, to hold one another to an account, to love one another enough to do that. The Lord says it's in the world, but it's not like it doesn't have any effect. It blinds the eyes of them that do not believe. You shouldn't run to the world for their wisdom and all of their idolatry and their fornication and their wickedness and every other sin that's running rampant. Trust God and His people. I've been saying this to preachers over and over again. You know what? If you're called to preach, you need to serve the Lord in the ministry that He enables you to minister. And if you're going to go into the ministry, you need to go out like they did from Antioch, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, because your local church said, yeah, God has got this man to do a work for Him, and we see the hand of God at work in His life, and we're sending them out, so you're not standing on your own. So when you get out there doing something for God on the mission field somewhere, and you start questioning whether you've even been called, you've got a body of believers back somewhere that goes, we know you were. And you don't have to trust in yourself, you can trust in the body of Christ somewhat. What if we could do that about sin in our lives, about struggles, about weaknesses? That's what the church is supposed to be. Close enough where someone can come along and say, hey, I know what God saved you out of, we've talked about that a fair bit. Are you doing okay? I see some things in your life that He said you wanted to live for God and this looks like you're not living for Him much anymore. That's a brother in Christ job. That's having love for one another to that extent. Being mindful that in all the idolatry there's just one God in heaven and He's still on His throne and nothing's going to dethrone Him or cause Him any concern in the midst of all of this. His only concern is the salvation of man in the midst of this idolatry. It's not derailing his plans, but there is a devil at work. We need to be mindful of that. We need to be mindful of where we were and praise the Lord for where we are as his children, as his temple, living for him in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation, amen. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Lord, I thank you and praise you. I ask you to help us. Lord, there's much to define about about idolatry and perhaps there's some more to do there. But here in the letter to the church at Corinth, I thank you, Heavenly Father, you told us how to focus on it, how to deal with it, what it is that we need to be mindful of, that you gave all this instruction to that local church and said, here is to be your focus and your understanding. that, Lord, we'd walk in it with charity towards those who are without, accountability to one another within, confidence with you on your throne and not being disturbed by the devil at work, mindful, Lord, of what you saved us from, and praising you, Lord, for what you saved us to. I thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. It's good to see you tonight.