Psalm 115.
You are never more as God intended you to be
and we are worshipers.
It is wired into our very being.
If we do not worship the one true and living God,
we will inevitably worship it something lesser.
These two sets of three verses
each serve as an inclusio
for verses 4 through 15.
These types of structures are important for us.
They're meant to draw us
to central things being taught.
They bookend for us
a juxtaposition between the worship of false gods
and the strong confidence that we can have
in worshiping the one true and living God.
So here has been my prayer for you this morning.
If you are of the nations,
one of those who do not belong to God,
who worships the creation rather than the creator,
my prayer for you is that you will behold
the steadfast love and faithfulness of God
this morning toward his people
and that you will be moved
to place saving faith in the person and work
of Jesus Christ, right?
That you might be counted amongst his people.
If you are already of God's people,
if you've already placed this saving faith in Jesus Christ,
my prayer for you is that you will behold
the steadfast love and faithfulness of God
afresh this morning.
You will see it once again
and that he will show you
how inclined you are
to still worship at the feet
of the creation.
Having been adopted into the family of God,
how likely you are to turn back from him
to lesser forms of worship.
So there are two points for this morning
if you're a note taker.
Our number one,
the futility of false gods.
And number two,
the glory of the one true and living God.
The psalmist here makes for us
such a very clear point
and he like stacks up the imagery for us
to help us to understand
the futility or uselessness
of false gods.
He says in verse four,
their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
Idols are created things.
The psalmist tells us in verse four
they are the work of human hands.
They are made of precious metals here
in verse four,
but they are made all the same.
Made by human hands.
And he elaborates this point
with these accusations of uselessness.
Verse five,
they have mouths.
That is an image of a mouth,
but they don't speak.
In juxtaposition to that,
Genesis chapter one
tells of God creating the world
with mighty words.
He has spoken and speaks,
but idols are dumb.
They cannot utter anything.
Certainly not to tell us anything
of any value whatsoever.
They cannot speak words of promise
or encouraging or threatening.
They also have eyes,
but do not see.
Again,
in juxtaposition,
when Hagar is told by an angel
of the Lord
that she will bear a son,
it was recorded in Genesis 16
and verse 13.
So she called the name of the Lord
who spoke to her.
You are a God of seeing.
Our God sees.
He takes in
and he acts accordingly.
Verse six says,
they have ears,
but they do not hear.
Exodus chapter two
and verse 24,
we see God hear the groaning
of his people in captivity
in Egypt.
And verse 24 says,
and God remembered his covenant
with Abraham,
with Isaac,
and with Jacob.
A God who cannot hear
is a God that is useless
to pray to.
There's no point in praying
to an inanimate God.
There is a God,
a singular God,
who hears and responds.
Verse six goes on,
they have noses,
but do not smell.
And this is likely a reference
to God's acceptance of sacrifice.
Genesis chapter eight
records for us in verse 21,
when Noah exits the ark,
that he made an altar
and he put on it a sacrifice.
And verse 21 says,
and when the Lord smelled
the pleasing aroma,
the Lord said in his heart,
I will never again curse the ground
because of man,
for the intention of man's heart
is evil from his youth.
Neither will I ever again
strike down every living creature
as I have done.
So we have a God
who accepts the sacrifice of men.
A God who cannot smell,
cannot receive
an acceptable sacrifice.
Verse seven says,
they have hands,
but do not feel.
False gods cannot sympathize
with our weakness
or bring us any comfort at all.
The author of Hebrews writes
in chapter four in verse 15,
for we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are,
yet without sin.
These idols have feet,
but do not walk.
False gods have no activity.
But the one true and living God
does all that he pleases.
False gods do nothing.
The prophet Amos records
in chapter four in verse 13,
for behold,
he who forms the mountains
and creates the wind
and declares to man
what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness
and treads on the heights
of the earth.
Right?
He walks on the heights
of the earth.
The Lord,
the God of hosts,
is his name.
And these idols,
verse seven tells us,
make not a sound
in their throat.
Or,
more literally,
they don't muse.
They have no thoughts.
False gods are lifeless
and useless.
This is a comprehensive,
charge list.
Idols are utterly useless,
and the worship of them
and exercise in futility.
To worship anything
other than the one
true and living God
is wasted worship.
In studying these chapters
against false gods,
my mind was drawn
to the taunting words
of Elijah
to the prophets of Baal
in 1 Kings 18,
in verse 27.
He says,
cry aloud,
for he is a god.
Either he is musing
or he is relieving himself
or he is on a journey
or perhaps he is asleep
and must be awakened.
Utter futility
to worship anything other
than God himself.
The psalmist continues
by telling us in
verse eight,
that those who make them
become like them
and so do all
who trust in them.
We become like
the things
that we worship.
This is striking.
It's incredible.
And this kind of language
is picked up
all throughout the scripture
of people who are not
following God.
Right?
People who are
without their senses.
Right?
They can't see
and they don't hear.
Jeremiah chapter 5,
verse 21 and following.
Hear this,
O foolish and senseless people
who have eyes
but do not see,
who have ears
but hear not.
Do you not fear me?
Declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble
before me?
I place the sand
as the boundary
for the sea.
A perpetual barrier
that it cannot pass.
Though the waves
toss,
they cannot prevail.
Though they roar,
they cannot
pass over it.
And the sea
was always seen
by the Hebrew people
as a great evil.
Right?
God is saying,
I set the limit
of that.
Verse 23,
But this people
has a stubborn
and rebellious heart.
They have turned aside
and gone away.
They do not say
in their hearts,
Let us fear the Lord
our God
who gives the rain
in its season,
the autumn rain
and the spring rain
and keeps for us
the weeks
appointed
for the harvest.
Ezekiel chapter 12
and verse 2.
Ezekiel writes,
Son of man,
you dwell in the midst
of a rebellious house
who have eyes to see
but see not,
who have ears to hear
but hear not,
for they are a
rebellious house.
This is the end result
of our idolatry.
Not seeing,
not hearing,
being senseless,
being rebels
against God.
And praise be to God
that by His Spirit,
He works faith
in blind
and deaf people.
We once were blind,
but now we see
if we are in Christ.
In Matthew chapter 13,
Jesus responds
to the apostles
asking why He speaks
in parables.
Much of Jesus' language
is so very confusing
on the surface.
Why not go around
teaching more
plainly?
And in verse 11
and following,
He says,
To you it has been given
to know the secrets
of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them
it has not been given.
For to the one who has,
more will be given
and he will have
an abundance,
but from the one
who has not,
even what he has
will be taken away.
This is why I speak
to them in parables
because seeing,
they do not see,
and hearing,
they do not hear,
nor do they understand.
Indeed, in their case,
the prophecy of Isaiah
is fulfilled that says,
and this is Isaiah 6,
verses 9 and 10,
You will indeed hear,
but never understand,
and you will indeed see,
but never perceive.
For this people's heart
has grown dull,
and with their ears
they can barely hear,
and their eyes
they have closed.
Lest they should see
with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand
with their heart
and turn,
and I would heal them.
But blessed are your eyes
for they see
and your ears
for they hear.
For truly I say to you,
many prophets
and righteous people
long to see
what you see
and did not see it,
and to hear
what you hear
and did not hear it.
And beloved,
if we are in Christ
this morning,
we have seen
and heard.
We have beheld
Christ
himself.
we have been
turned from our
evil ways.
We have been
made less senseless.
We have been
turned to the
Most High God
we now see
and we hear.
And most of us
do not find ourselves
in a position
to bow down
to carved images.
I don't know
that this is
happening much,
although this morning
I was told
that there's a
large night hawk
now on one of the
UNG campuses
that's getting
prayed to
and gifts given to it
and touched for good luck.
I was shocked
to hear such a thing.
It was more
striking
considering Psalm 115
this week.
This is not
typically
the shape
that our
idolatry takes
but the Bible
is relentless
about the
idolatry of our
hearts
because we're
people created
to worship
but to worship
God
alone.
In the Decalogue
Exodus 20
in verse 3
we are commanded
you shall have
no other
gods
before me.
We have to be
very careful
that we don't
see commands
like that
that we don't
read Psalm 115
and think
I don't
bow down
to any
graven images.
There's no
idolatry in my
life that looks
like what's
being explained
here but I
would suggest
to you that
oh on the
contrary.
Charles Spurgeon
once said
and this is the
quote on your
bulletin this
morning if you
happen to have
one,
quote,
if you love
anything better
than God
you are
idolaters.
If there's
anything you
would not give
up for God
it is your
idol.
If there's
anything that
you seek with
greater fervor
than you seek
the glory of
God that is
your idol.
And conversion
means a
turning from
every idol.
Beloved, an
idol is anything
that we place
as the primary
focus of our
lives.
idolaters.
And it's very
possible to do
this with good
things.
We regularly
take good
things and
make them
idols by
loving them
above God
himself.
We do this
with security.
We do this
with all
sorts of
material
possessions.
We do it
with knowledge.
You bunch of
reformed
Baptists.
We do it
with our
political
ideologies,
with control
and comfort.
We do it
with our
health,
pleasure.
We do it
with success
or significance.
I have
idolatrously
worshipped
being a
pastor.
Isn't it
good to be a
pastor?
Of course it's
good to be a
pastor.
It's not good
to worship
being a
pastor.
creator.
We do it
with our
physical
appearance,
our leisure
time,
our ambitions.
We do it
even with our
family and
our church.
We have to
be so very
careful where
we place our
affection.
Even the good
things can get
misaligned and
we can love
those things
more than the
very God who
grants them.
to us.
We've
recently studied
James.
James chapter
4,
verse 1,
James writes,
what causes
quarrels and
what causes
fights among
you?
Is it not
this, that
your passions
are at war
within you?
You desire
and do not
have, so you
murder.
You covet and
cannot obtain,
so you fight
and quarrel.
You do not
have because
you do not
ask.
You ask and
do not receive
because you
ask wrongly
to spend
it on
your passions.
James is
suggesting to
us that we
would be a
people at
peace were
we not
idolatrous.
We weren't
worshipping the
creation rather
than the
creator.
And we know
this because he
goes on in
verse 4 of
James 4 to
say,
you adulterous
people,
do you not
know that
friendship with
the world is
enmity with
God?
God.
Therefore,
whoever wishes
to be a
friend of
the world
makes himself
an enemy
of God.
And so,
if we are to
be worshippers
of God,
created in
Christ Jesus
for this,
then we
have to be
very careful
about the
lingering
idolatry
of our
hearts.
We have to
be constantly
assessing those
things in our
life that
draw our
attention.
Has this
become a
matter of
worship for
me or just
a thing that
I do?
Serving my
family,
working my
job,
owning my
home and
my car and
taking the
vacation,
all of those
things,
they ought to
be under
great scrutiny
to be sure
that our
hearts have
not drifted
away from
worship of
our God.
I think a
little helpful
rubric,
although there's
a number of
great rubrics
out there to
kind of run
your heart
through,
as one put
forth by A.W.
Tozer,
and he called
them rules for
self-
discovery,
and what he
meant by that
was how to
recognize where
the inclination
of your heart
was at,
and there's
seven of
them,
so here
they are.
Number one,
what we
want most.
You think
about things
that you want,
what is it
that you
think about?
What is it
that you
desire?
Number two,
what we
think about
most.
Where is
your mind
set throughout
the day?
Number three,
how we
use our
money.
Is our
money being
spent on
things that
are ultimately
about serving
us,
or about
serving the
kingdom of
God?
Are we
storing up
treasure here,
or treasure
above?
Fourth,
what we do
with our
leisure time.
When you've
got some free
time,
how do you
tend to
spend it?
Number five,
the company
we enjoy.
what kind
of people
do you
like to
be around?
Number six,
who and
what we
admire.
And number
seven,
what we
laugh at.
Things can
be helpful
to us to
think about
the inclination
of our
hearts.
Now,
because God
loves us
if we're
his people,
he cares
about exposing
our idolatry.
He wants
us to see
our idolatry
that we
might repent
of it and
return to
him.
And he
does this
in a number
of ways.
He does
it by his
word and
his spirit.
Hebrews 4
and verse 12
says,
the word of
God is
living and
active,
sharper than
any two-edged
sword,
piercing the
division of
soul and
spirit,
of joints
and of
marrow,
and discerning
the thoughts
and intentions
of the
heart.
Oh,
Christian,
that we
would be in
his word
and inviting
him in,
that he
would expose
our hearts
by the light
of his
word.
That we
might repent
and return
and worship
him with
all of our
being.
Secondly,
God exposes
our idolatry
by frustrating
our idols,
by withholding
them,
or by allowing
us to
experience
their futility.
Sometimes he
keeps you from
the thing that
you want to
show how much
you want it,
and sometimes
he gives it
to you so
that you'll
realize what
a waste of
energy it
really was.
In Psalm
106,
verse 13
and following,
this is a
reference to
Korah's
rebellion from
Numbers chapter
16,
I'll let you
go read
about that.
It records,
God as
God also exposes our idolatry by giving us, number three, an example of true worship.
To look toward.
What does true worship look like?
1 Kings 18, verse 36.
And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said,
O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant
and that I have done all these things at your word.
God also exposes our idolatry, number four, by administering loving discipline.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5 and 6.
The author of Hebrews, as an encouragement to a people who are suffering, says,
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.
So because God loves us, he disciplines us, he trains us in righteousness,
because he knows that the very best thing that he can give to us is himself.
It's himself.
So we must be very careful, right?
The psalmist is trying to teach us about the futility of idolatry.
We must not think that we're immune to this,
but see that it still exists within us, even if we're in Christ.
This temptation to worship lesser things than our most high God.
And so what is the remedy for all of this idolatry?
It's proper worship.
So we see in the text also, the second main point,
the glory of the one true and living God.
The psalmist tells us, in order for us to properly worship,
we need to trust, to place our faith in this true and living God.
And we get wonderful repetitions here.
Verse 9, 10, and 11.
O Israel, trust in the Lord.
He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord.
He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.
He is their help and their shield.
And I have to believe that when these repetitions exist in the Scripture,
it is because we're supposed to pay attention to them.
We need to be told again and again and again,
trust in the Lord.
He is a help and a shield.
Trust in the Lord.
He is a help and a shield.
Trust in the Lord.
He is a help and a shield.
He is actively and passively pursuing our good.
What a reason to praise our God.
Paul writes in Romans chapter 8,
verse 28 and 29.
And we know that for those who love God,
all things work together for good.
For those who are called according to his purpose.
And here's the good, beloved.
For those whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
There's no question there about the good that he's bringing about in our lives.
As God is to be trusted,
as he is working actively and passively for our good,
he's making us look more like Jesus.
So that we might bring him more glory.
Right?
Not to us, O Lord.
Not to us.
But to your name give glory.
Then again, repetition.
Verses 12, 13, 14, and 50.
The Lord has remembered us.
He will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the Lord.
Both the small and the great.
May the Lord give you increase.
You and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Right?
What does he bless us with?
He will bless us with himself.
In Joshua chapter 1, verse 5.
God says,
I will not leave you or forsake you.
And he has promised the very same to us who believe in Christ.
The author of Hebrews again picks up chapter 13 and verse 5.
This quotation from Joshua 1, 5.
He says,
Keep your life free from the love of money.
And be content with what you have.
Be not idolatrous about possessions.
The author of Hebrews says.
For he has said,
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
So the remedy to this idolatry,
this useless,
this futile energy,
this proper worship of the one true and living God.
He deserves all of our worship.
And we are most like we were created to be
when we give him all of our worship.
So may we be God's people,
having placed saving faith in Jesus Christ,
who recognize the steadfast love and faithfulness of God to us,
so that we will turn from our idolatrous ways
and turn to him in admiration and praise.
Let's pray together.