Lifeless Idols

“Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them” (Psm. 115:2-8). This is a very pointed statement about the idols of old covenant times, and Jeremiah added a few like words to these on the same topic: “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens… Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish” (Jer. 10:3-5,11,14,15). The point here was the same one as in the Psalm, and that is that there was no LIFE or POWER in any of these idols, and therefore they profited nothing to anyone who regarded them. The idols of that day were fashioned by the hands of men according to the imagination of their own hearts, and the prophets rebuked the people of God for being a partaker of these ‘vanities.’ (Isa. 2:8; Jer. 9:14; Jer. 2:5).

We are admonished by the scriptures to heed the patterns of disobedience and unbelief exemplified by old testament Israel, and with good reason (I Cor. 10:11; Heb. 4:11). That reason is that nothing ever changes, and walking after the imagination of one’s own heart is still in effect today, as is the worship of idols. God’s people today have been taught the “work of errors,” and those errors are the doctrines and traditions that have been forged by the imagination of the hearts of men. Jesus told us clearly that he himself is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6). Well Jesus is not here now, but he did send something back from heaven to take his place after he left here, and that something is the very LIFE and POWER that he walked in when he was here (Jn. 15-20,26). In fact he clearly said that his purpose for coming here was that we “might have LIFE, and have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). That life is “the SPIRIT of life” which he sent back from heaven on the day of Pentecost to those whom he commanded to wait for it (Rom. 8:2; Acts 1:4,5; Acts 2:4). In fact the holy Ghost is such a true and living representation of Jesus in this world, that the scripture actually says, “Now the Lord IS that Spirit” (II Cor. 3:17). And that 'life’ is also the 'power’ which Jesus said would be received by those who believe, through the baptism of his Spirit that he baptizes with (Jn. 7:37,38; Acts 1:8). So my point here today is simply that the purifying, delivering, redeeming, and healing power of God’s Spirit is the only true presence and reality of Jesus Christ in this world; and any doctrine that is apart from the life and power of the holy Ghost constitutes idolatry and is the 'works of men’s own hands’ every bit as much and more than the idols of old testament times.

Everybody today wants to be an evangelist and a teacher, and everyone is full of the words of modern religious rhetoric. But a lot of folks have forgotten the highly definitive statement of the apostle Paul: “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (I Cor. 4:20). I will tell you with authority my friend, that anything that we are saying and anything that we are hearing that is not imparting the evident life and power of God to the heart and soul, is nothing but idolatry. And every doctrine that is not producing the true spiritual fruit of God’s love and fear in the lives of those who adhere to them, is only vanity and the “work of errors,” like the idols of old time. The would-be teachers and those who hear them are like unto their lifeless, powerless idols; just as those described in our text passage were. Those who ascribe to any other 'belief’ than faith in Jesus Christ UNTO receiving and walking in the life and power from heaven that cleanses the heart and soul from sin, are followers and worshipers of idols; and they bear the fruit of their lifeless, powerless doctrines that they love to teach and to listen to. People can hold to their doctrinal guns that fire nothing but blanks if they want to, but when it’s all said and done the result will be the same as what Jeremiah spoke in days of old, which I will quote once more for good measure: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens… They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” And one more re-quote here just to punctuate the fearful point: “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” I believe that just about says it. Amen.