Fight Off What Comes Naturally (Idolatry)

Fight Off What Comes Naturally

Exodus 20:1-21 1 Peter 2:9-12 3/6/2020

Some things that come naturally to us can prove deadly if we give ourselves over to them. Have you ever been driving and got sleepy at night. You do things to fight off that natural desire to sleep. You may open windows, turn off the heat, eat snacks or a number of other things to stay awake. You know the consequences of giving in to falling asleep while driving a car.

Not only is that true in the physical realm , that is true in the realm of our desires physically. We all know what it is like to have some desires or attractions to things or persons that would not be in our best interests to act upon. It’s natural to want to own a car more than we can afford, or a home that’s beyond our budget.

It’s natural to go in the store for one thing and come out with 15 things. It’s natural for us to blame others when something of ours is lost. It’s natural to assume we are right and the other person is wrong.

When it comes to having a natural desire to know God, it is natural for us to choose things that will draw us further away from God. The human heart left by itself will not choose the things of God. Oh it will try to be a nice, decent person, but it will not desire the will of God for our lives. It was natural for Jesus to say, Father take this cup away from me, but not natural to say but not my will, yours be done.

I am amazed that Jesus is able to love us. Because the writer of John’s gospel tells us that Jesus did not entrust himself to people because he knew what was in each person’s heart.

Our natural tendency is always going to be to choose the world over the things of God. When it comes to loving the Lord, the commandment starts from the position here is something you need to start doing. For it says,” You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Yet when it comes to loving the world, the commandment starts from the position, here is something you need to stop doing. The apostle tells us in 1 John 2:15-16 (NIV) 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.

It is natural for us to love the things of the world and the ways of the world. That’s why we are called to walk by the Spirit and not by the things that are naturally within us.

If someone were asked to you, where are you bent toward disobeying God could you tell them? If they asked you which part of the world are you tempted to love, would you admit it? It’s always something from the world that actually keeps us from 40 days to a better you.

Most people do not have a problem with God as long as they are allowed to create God in their own image. Every generation wants to recreate God in their own image, despite the author of Hebrews telling us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Whenever there is a great leader in the bible who leads the people back to God, there is a sad verse following the end of their lives. It goes like this, and the people worshipped God all the days of the leader and the elders that survived him, but afterwards they turned to false Gods.

Walking with God is always going to be an act of faith. You may believe if God would do this one thing for you, you would never ever doubt God again, and you would serve him with your whole heart. But that simply is not true. The people in the bible who saw God’s miracles in the most powerful ways from plagues hitting one group but not another, who experienced God’s provisions in unbelievable ways, (free food and meat from Heaven) and who heard God’s voice the clearest, had no problem rejecting God’s authority over the lives.

Never forget Judas was with Jesus his entire ministry up to the cross but in in the end he rejected the claims of Jesus.

God had told Moses to have the people come near Mount Sinai so that they could experience His Glory. God had a 40 day plan for a better you. The people all responded “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses consecrated all the people. It took three days.