The title of my message today is Where Your Treasure Is. We are going to talk about idolatry today.
I was doing housework one day this week and the Lord told me something about idolatry. And I said, Lord, I just recorded a podcast on idolatry, Why are we talking about idolatry again?
And He said, “Idolatry is anything people run to for comfort besides Me.”
And I was thinking, why is He…..and THEN IT HIT ME WHY !! The reason the Lord wants everyone to understand this is because the judgments are about to start and in those times everyone left on earth will be DESPERATELY SEEKING COMFORT. In those times most people will be willing to do anything for even the smallest comfort. All of our comforts will be stripped away, and the Lord is going to use our lack of comfort to get the attention of all those who are perishing.
Making God in Your Image
In Biblical times, some people were idol makers by trade. They fashioned little gods out of metal or stone or wood or whatever. These “Household Gods” as they were called, were considered great treasures and were passed down from generation to generation.
These idol makers could fashion God to look and be however they wanted. They made him conform to THEiR image, an image convenient for THEIR LIVES. They could make a god that would FIT IN with their sin. JUST LIKE PEOPLE DO NOW.
How many times have we seen somebody get saved and they try to fit God into their life by adjusting GOD instead of adjusting THEIR SIN. And when He won’t fit because He will not be 2nd, they decide that God just doesn’t work for them. No. He don’t. God don’t work for anybody. He’s GOD! God is not an ATM of answered prayers that you install in your house and then forget until you need something. He is GOD and He will BE God – He won’t play second fiddle.
Rachel and the Household Gods
In Genesis 31, we read the story of Jacob leaving Laban’s employ. Laban had dishonestly changed Jacob’s wages ten times and Jacob had just had enough of it. So he told Rachel and Leah – pack up the kids, we’re headin’ out.
Well, they did. In fact, Rachel packed extra well, she also packed up Laban’s household gods. I always wondered why she did that. She was married to a man who believed in the one TRUE god, so why did she grab those little statue gods and take them along?? Well, I think the study notes I just read may reveal the ANSWER. Let me read this one note to you:
Note to Gen. 31:19 (NIV, 3rd ed study Bible) – Many people kept small wooden or metal idols in their homes. These idols were called teraphim and they were thought to protect the home and offer advice in times of need. They had legal significance as well, for when they were passed on to an heir, the person who received them could rightfully claim the greatest part of the family inheritance. … Most likely Rachel stole her father’s idols because she was afraid Laban would consult them and learn where she and Jacob had gone or perhaps she wanted to claim the family inheritance.
Looking for the definition of teraphim, I found this on Wikipedia:
teraphim may refer to singular objects, using the Hebrew plural of excellence. The word Teraphim is explained in classical rabbinical literature as meaning disgraceful things.
Unlike the days of the Israelites, we don’t have little gods we carry around in a box. You won’t box THIS God in! You can’t put Him away in a dark box so He won’t see you sinning until you want Him to give you something. HE WILL BE GOD.
We serve a holy God, yall. He sees every sin and excuses NONE of them. Forgiveness comes through repentance which means to CHANGE DIRECTION and asking for His forgiveness.
Where Your Treasure Is
As humans, we tend to fall into daily routines, don’t we? A routine anchors our days and gives us a sense of normalcy. I am a person who likes routines. I like the security of a routine and knowing certain things will get done each day. Every morning I have a set of chores I do. Each evening I have another set of chores I do.
My routines make sure certain things are done like my dogs get their medications on time. The dogs have fresh water in clean bowls, and all the drapes are drawn in each room and doors & windows are locked.
I don’t spend an inordinate amount of time on these things, they are just routines that help me maintain my home and care for my pets properly.
I have a friend in NZ who spends 3 hours a day at the gym, bodybuilding. I have a cousin who spends I don’t know how many hours a week maintaining classic cars that he restored. He started restoring cars when he was about 16 years old. I have another relative, an attractive female, who spends a lot of her time outside of work, working on her image – having her hair & nails done, buying new clothes, tanning and working out. AND of course taking and posting selfies of all her hard work.
What do you spend most of your time and energy on?
• Many spend all their time advancing their careers
• A lot of younger people spend all their time improving their images
• Many older folks spend most of their time with their grandchildren or working on their homes
I believe that whatever we personally spend the most time, energy and money on is a good indication of where our treasures are. And where our treasures are, there will our hearts be.
Order of Scriptures
You know, it’s so interesting to look at the order of scriptures in the Word of God. It can reveal things you never saw before. The Word is fascinating – it’s so deep and rich and you can never uncover all its secrets, never learn everything it has for you, even when you are in it every day, year after year after year. So I was looking at the where your treasure is group of scriptures.
Always pay attention to what comes before and after the scriptures you are studying. Before this group of scriptures, Jesus is talking about when you fast, don’t make a big show of it – you know, to get admiration and whatever for doing it. But look what comes AFTER these verses about where your treasure is – it’s important to see this because WHERE OUR TREASURES ARE is where we will find our idols HIDING.
ADRIAN ROGERS said An Idol is anything you LOVE MORE, FEAR MORE, VALUE MORE or SERVE MORE than you do Almighty God.
I have met people who were called to Kingdom work who feared their spouses more than God and so won’t answer the call. One man I met fears his Native American people more than he fears God, though he has known for years he is called to preach.
Did you know that’s the reason a lot of people don’t tithe or give to the church? They’re clinging to their treasure. Their treasure is their money. But the Word of God says rich men will cast their silver and their gold away when the judgments come.
Matthew 6:19-30 KJV
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where. Your. treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
And by the way, that word SINGLE in vs. 22 means whole and NOT CONFUSED. We know from the Word of God that idolatry ALWAYS BRINGS confusion. I’ll read you a verse about confusion in just a minute.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
So after the Where your treasure is verses come the scriptures about only being able to serve ONE master (so you cannot serve God AND those little wooden idols, too) AND the verses about Not Worrying. Why take ye thought for raiment…If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith.
He is saying be careful what you treasure or you will get into worldly worries and lose your faith in Me. See how interesting the Bible is? You know, people are always emailing me wanting a word, but you can get a word any time you want. Just open up your Bible!
These verses are a word for all of us. Be careful what you treasure too much, or you will get into worldly worries and lose your faith in Me and I’m the One who clothes the grass of the field.
HE is where our treasure SHOULD BE.
Wind and Confusion:
Isaiah 41:29 KJV
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
That word wind in Is. 41:29 wind and confusion means just AIR. It ALSO means a discontented spirit. And that is exactly what idolatry will give you, too. A discontented spirit. Because there is not one thing in this world available to us that can fulfill your spirit except the Spirit of the Living God. Those little dead statue gods have nothing to give you but some weight to add to your burdens. Can I just say that.
I want you to think about this – the Lord is telling us idols are just vanity. That word vanity means wickedness, affliction and sorrow. We don’t want any of that!! So he is saying idols are just wickedness, affliction, sorrow and wind and confusion.
What does the wind do? Ask any woman who styles her hair. It messes everything up. When you least expect it, a wind comes out of nowhere and messes everything up. Idols will do the same thing to your life. They will bring unexpected destruction.
God’s Response to Our Idolatry: He Shuts Our Eyes
Our Sin Can Be an Idol
And the scariest thing of all to me is how God responds to idolatry in our lives. If we give something or someone else credit for delivering us, He closes our eyes where we cannot see.
This is what you are seeing any time you see someone in a relationship that’s just wrong for lack of a better word. And everyone tries to tell them only they won’t listen. They have gotten into idolatry. They have tucked their idols away all safe and sound among their stuff and now they can’t see them.
Isaiah 44:17-18 KJV
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
I KNOW people this has happened to and they are still blind. I knew someone many years ago who left off preaching and returned to a life of sin and they think they are okay, but the Lord literally told me to STOP PRAYING for that person, that that person had chosen sin over Him and that there will be NO MORE REPENTANCE poured out.
What could be more terrifying than being left in your sin and being blind to it???
Any time you persist in sinning and you refuse to lay that sin down, you are risking this. Your sin has become an idol. If it had not, why would you keep choosing IT over God?
I want yall to think about this – this is NO time to be playing around in sin. You know this – we could get called home TONITE! And any of us could get called home unexpectedly anyway, yall. I nearly got called home late in November of 2012.
I woke up that one morning, and upon getting out of bed, hit the floor like a rock. A trip to the hospital told me I had suffered an hemorrhagic stroke in my sleep. And IF it had bled into my brain only 1 mm more, it would have shut down my breathing. Literally that’s how close I came to death. And yet God, in His mercy, did not allow me to become permanently disabled where I could not finish my work for His Kingdom. How awesome is the God we serve? Does He not deserve our complete devotion?
How quickly we can lose our grip on this world and be thrust into eternity, unable to return to make anything right ever again. Unable to come back and lay down that sin we kept returning to day after day or night after night. What REGRET we would feel! We want to enter eternity with great joy and expectation of reward!
What are You Still Holding on To that the Lord wants you to let go of?
So the question I want to ask you today is, What are you still holding on to that you KNOW the Lord has been leading you to lay down? What in this world are you clinging to that the Lord wants you to let go of? Is it a person? A habit? A place? It can even be a blessing, can’t it? It was God Himself who commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son with Sarah on the altar.
The Test of the Blessing
Sometimes God will send things into our lives designed to test our level of commitment to Him. I call this the Test of the Blessing. If you flunk the Test of the Blessing, you might have to make a detour into the wilderness to help you get straightened out on who the real God is. Don’t worry though, God will help you out with that.
And remember, too – the quicker you obey something like this, the easier it is to do. The night in 1997 in South Louisiana when the Lord wanted me to lay down cigarettes, I did it. I did not WANT to do it, but I did it. I gave it to Him and I just trusted Him for help with any withdrawals. And you know what? The withdrawals NEVER CAME. That was the blessing of obedience. The other blessing is now I’m not fighting lung cancer or paying $6 - $10 a pack for cigarettes! I have lost two close family members to lung cancer, that is not an envelope I would want to push. The night the Lord spoke that to me, those two people were still alive and well.
Just obey Him. Whatever He is telling or leading you to do, it is FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. A lot of people tell me they can’t hear the Lord. Have you refused to obey Him? Would you keep talking to someone who refused to listen and do what you were saying? I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t waste my time. I’m just sayin.
We don’t want to disobey God or put Him off. Because you know, the longer you put Him off, the more excuses you will make to yourself about why you’re not doing what He told you to do or what you KNOW He is leading you to do. You know, He speaks to you through leadings, too. I’m just sayin.
Anything you are unwilling or unable to lay down for him is starting to look like one of those little statues, isn’t it?
Remember, God will take care of Isaac, but YOU have to take care of your Ishmaels. YOU will bear the burden of carrying Ishmael through the desert.
So will you say Yes, Lord or will you say Maybe tomorrow Lord if He asks for what you treasure?
