Chastened...Why?

Chastened.

Who likes being chastened?

To be chastened means to - make somebody subdued, to be subjected to discipline, to moderate the intensity of something. Here in the word of God we know the term is being used as being subject to discipline.

So who likes to be disciplined?

To be disciplined is to - practice the methods of teaching and enforcing acceptable patterns of behavior, a controlled orderly state, the ability to behave in a controlled calm way even in a difficult stressful situation, mental self-control used in directing or changing behavior or training for something, education, punishment to teach obedience, a system of rules in a religious order.

Here in the passage we are studying now it is being used as punishment to teach obedience.

Well, who likes to be punished?

Punished- to undergo a penalty for a wrongdoing, receiving a punishment for a crime, to treat someone harshly, causing damage or pain, to be treated unfairly, discriminatorily.

Okay, enough of the breaking down word meanings. Let's read the Biblical passage, the message from the Word of God.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

We are NOT to despise the chastening (discipline, punishment) of the LORD.

THE LORD will chasten us! The LORD will rebuke us! We receive this chastening, this rebuking from our CREATOR, from our HEAVENLY FATHER why? How?

Hold up for a moment of contemplation. All of us started out as babes, grew into toddlers, aged into young children, became older children, entered into the teenage realm and then young adults and onwards (depending on your age whoever might be reading this). The point being we grew up with parental figures in our lives and those parental figures tried to chasten us in order to teach us the proper way of behaving in our society. Even if you have the most awful parents (or parental figures, not particularly your biological parents) in existence you were exposed to some sort of chastening during your upbringing. Home, school, wherever it was you had exposure to learning what behaviors were acceptable and what behaviors weren’t acceptable. One way we learned was by behaving unacceptably and when that occurred we were told it was wrong and if we insisted on continuing that behavior we were punished, chastened in order to enforce the comprehension of what is acceptable and what isn't.

Learning to behave acceptably or knowing there are consequences to unacceptable behavior, and choosing to risk those consequences really are the only choices we have in our lives. Behave or not to behave. You may think there are more choices but there aren't- it's all wrapped up right there. Even if you NEVER get caught misbehaving and suffer any of the possible consequences to your misbehavior, you are risking the possibility of receiving the known consequences to your misbehavior.  Behave or not to behave. We live our lives under this rule of life and we also live our lives under the SPIRITUAL rule of life that is the same- behave or do not behave.

In the spiritual realm of this- our HEAVENLY FATHER will do all He can to teach us the necessary right and wrong behavior and guide us to the right behavior.

Let's read a bit more of the passage-

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

Why does our Heavenly Father chasten us- so we might be PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLINESS. He wants us to be HIS! And to be HIS, we need to comprehend right from wrong and choose the right over the wrong. To choose to obey rather than disobey. To comprehend obedience is a gift, true love, true life not a stricture placed on us to hurt us in any way at all.

We all understand the ways parents use to protect children- restricting them in ways they seem to resent. The parents restrict them to protect them out of love. If you have a child who begins to crawl and an open stairway down to a basement, you take precautions to keep the child from hurting themselves. You aren't doing it to be mean, you aren't trying to limit your child from its life- you are protecting the child so the child continues to have a life. God would protect us in this way. If we become willful, as children can, we might succeed in circumventing any protective measure put up to keep us from taking a bad fall down the stairs. The consequence will be us falling and even dying.

God would have us be PARTAKERS of HIS HOLINESS.

The position we were originally created for- to be a part of God's existence in pure peace, in pure love. The joy that waits for those who will partake of God's holiness goes beyond true comprehension in its wonder, try as we might to compare it to something we can only know it now cumbered by sin's degradation.

We are spiritually chastened so we may become PARTAKERS of GOD'S HOLINESS.

More on this tomorrow by the will and the mercy, the love, the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

The Race for Eternal Life.

The weight of the world, we've all felt it haven't we? Of course, figuratively speaking we've felt that weight pressing down on us threatening to destroy us. It's those days when everything seems to go wrong. One problem after another arises and the flood of mental, emotional pressure, as well as physical ailments just want to crush us until there is nothing left of us. We somehow make it through- though there are times we end up broken from it all and need a lot of time to heal. Some of our world-weight, crushing injuries are able to be hidden, other times we can't help but wear the fresh wounds for all to see. The term mental breakdown holds a stigma - less so now than years ago- but still, it's a term we use to label those we classify as too mentally, emotionally weak to handle the weight of the world pressing down on them.

Are people who have mental breakdowns weak simply because another person in a similar situation is able to handle it without succumbing to a mind freezing, world altering, numb, strangeness that slips us out of the normal world into an unfamiliar and very scary strange realm of mental existence? Weakness truly has no place in mental, emotional breakdowns- they are the result of sensitivities unique to us all as individuals. You may have a sensitivity to eating mushrooms and they make you break out in hives, are you weak because of that? No. You may not be able to take the same medicine that thousands of others are able to take without bad side effects, does that make you weak? No, it's just who you are. Your heart may have damage to it done from genetics along with various abuses - diet, smoking, lack of exercise does that make you a weak person? No. You may have been born with the inability to regulate your insulin, does that mean you are weak? No. All these things that happen to us in response to the world's influences, through our genetic makeup and the like do not make us weak people, they make us people with sensitivities that are perhaps not average, perhaps not the same as yours, and when the weight of the world comes crashing down on an emotionally, mentally sensitive person and puts cracks in their way of life making things really difficult for them, we need to build them up, help them without stigma and ridicule.

We need compassion to comprehend their differences. Their difficulties in handling this thing we call life is not due to weakness but to their individuality.

Their weakness may exist because of your strength- and if you refuse them your strength they only grow weaker- where does the failing lie in this scenario, in truth? We have the ability to give our strength, and as long as we have no sensitivity of our own preventing that ability to give our strength, then our refusal to give strength to the weak makes us the truly weak ones, the flawed ones so much more beyond the one who is sensitive to the world in ways not fully comprehended.

That the world HAS weight that can crush us is not lost in Biblical teachings.

Some of the weight is of our own making, our own choosing. When we choose to disobey God's teachings and surround ourselves willing with sins we are covering ourselves with weights of this world. When we have knowledge of sin and know something we are doing is contrary to God's love- and we have NO repentance, no remorse, no guilt at all- we can't expect the weight of sin not to crush us.

God expects from us capable of doing so, to choose His love, His compassion, His ways of living. God knows that sin will tempt us and try us threatening to destroy us. We choose God's way over the way of sin, the right over the way of wrong, we choose to live surrounded by the weight of sin's temptation without it piling up on us.

We will never live in this world without sin tempting us on a constant basis. Some sins are more appealing to us than others and do easily capture us and it is those sins we have to lay aside. We have to recognize them and consciously decide to keep from them, to strive to keep from them, to actively choose to stop yielding to the temptation. To repent with a sincere remorse and desire not to yield to the temptation. To seek forgiveness always! To beg for whatever it is we need to keep from us from sinning.

We have entered into the race for our eternal life and along the route are millions and millions of potholes waiting to trip us up. But it's not too hard to avoid a pothole because we see it as being detrimental to our racing. Yet, also along the route are many waystations set up to tempt us to stop racing, offering us every incentive to drop out of the race. These waystations are outfitted with the most personally tempting enticements and often there is a tempter in the waystation with its foot stuck out in front of us ready to trip us up so they can pull us into their station keeping us from running.  We need to run the race with patience- with comprehension that all those temptations to keep us from running are out there waiting for us and we need to purposefully choose to look to the finish line and not let ourselves be taken captive by anything that would keep us from making it there. 

We have to look to JESUS who ran the race and won. We have to look at the horrors that Jesus endured to get to the finish line, paving the way for us. We need to keep Jesus ever before us in the race, not looking away from Him for a moment, ever dragging our focus from the tempting sins and towards Him and His love for us! He endured the greatest of temptations because He had the greatest relationship with the Father. He knew He could drop out of the race all He had to do was say the word. His temptation was so much more than any temptation we can imagine, and He never yielded! He wants us at the finish line with Him! He knows the sin weight of the world would drag us down and keep us from Him if we let it. He is there always to encourage us on toward Him. He comes to know us, every bit of our lives, as we race on and keep in constant contact with Him.

Yes, we may be called to struggle through the darkest valleys, and pits of the thickest mud on the racing route but as long as we keep our hope in that finish line where our Savior waits for us, ever pressing onward He will see us through the most world weight crushing times of our lives. Even when we break under the weight, He is there ready to keep us safe in Him as we heal. 

Our Savior will help us avoid the pot holes, get us through the rough terrain and inclement weather, and He will keep us from turning into the tempting waystations which only want to keep us from finishing the race. Our Savior gives us all the supplies we need along the racing route, we get the refreshing life giving water from Him, we get the bread of life from Him to sustain us, we get all the rest we need safe in His embrace, and the joys of true, everlasting love will be given to us.  All by HIS grace and mercy, His love now and forever!!!!!!!

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 

Eating, Drinking-Living-All to Glorify God.

All, not some of the things, but all the things we do should be done to the glory of God.

If we live our lives with the thought of God in all we do, would our lives be led differently?

Eating and drinking are two very basic necessities in our lives. We scarcely go a day without doing both, and often several times a day. When a person stops eating and drinking it's because they are usually sick and those around the person know that if they don't start doing both soon they could die. Sure, going a day without eating because your stomach feels off, isn't too bad of a thing. But going several days without eating is something very worrisome. To go even a single day without drinking anything is worrisome, two days very troubling, three days then you know something is seriously wrong and your health is in danger. Looking it up on the internet it states a person can go up to a week without drinking, in another place it says three to four days. We can last without food a lot longer, but fluid is a whole other story.

Eating and drinking, again I state, these are two basic needs we have for survival and we are told in the word of God that whether we are eating or drinking we should do it to the glory of God.

Eating and drinking to God's glory.

If God is FIRST in our lives, the place He is supposed to hold before all else, then it stands to perfect reason that eating and drinking, and truly ALL we do is done to God's glory.

Honoring God, recognizing God in everything we do, not just a few things.

Do our lives bring glory to God? 

Do our actions bring glory to God?

If we answer no then we have to reevaluate our lives, our actions.

We cannot take God and set Him aside while we live in a way contrary to Him. Even a person in the lowest estate needs to recognize God and glorify Him. A beggar on the street, a person caught up in a life of sin, needs to recognize God and seek His glory- and seek forgiveness, seek a way to live to glorify God. God has made ways for us to escape any temptation to sin, to disobey Him. We must seek that way. We must strive against sin…

Heb_12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Luk_13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

We truly have to strive - which the dictionary tells us means- to try hard to achieve something or get something, to fight in opposition to something, to compete resolutely against somebody or something, to struggle, endeavor, attempt, try, go all out, do your best, do your utmost, make every effort, do all you can do, pull out all stops.  

Striving is not a half-hearted attempt towards something, but giving it everything we have to give.

Doing all to the glory of God means just what it says.

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

1Co 10:32  Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 

We must do all to God's glory, and in doing so we are to live peaceably with everyone- not a single person excluded. We are to glorify God by letting God's love live in us and through us. We are not to love anyone with our own love, but with God's love. We can love all when we love with God's love and not our own. When we seek to help all and in doing so live the example of God's love- glorifying Him for all the help we are able to give to anyone, we are pointing them towards salvation through God. To this end Christ came, to this end we live. All by the power, the grace, the mercy, the will of our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever! May we live our lives to glorify God!

Keep Fighting Evil.

Idolatry. We need to choose who we worship. Many might immediately say that they do not worship anyone or anything and in a world without God or Satan that might be possible, but that isn't the case. You may choose to believe there is no God, but that doesn't make it true. Just because we believe doesn't make something a fact. Children believe in many made up stories their parents tell them, it doesn't make them reality. Of course, people will then say just because we believe there is a God doesn't make that true.

For me, it is fact that we were created by God. There can be no other logical explanation. Come up with all the big bang theories you want, there is no logic behind something being created from nothing, and you have to go down, way down to the very first something- and ask, where did that come from.

God who is from everlasting to everlasting, God who always ways, without beginning and without end answers the questions that can't be answered. God Is.

Because God Is, all things can be.

God Is and evil became, the two oppose each other with God able to arbitrarily cause evil to no longer exist. The choice not to simply end evil was a choice made because evil came into existence through a creature's choosing. To absolutely destroy evil would mean that choice to destroy being proven to be made from love, pure love, and the decision that evil would never be possible again.

Evil was possible, and we have no way of knowing how long it was possible before it came to fruition in Lucifer. We do know that once it began it was something that needed to be taken to the utmost limits of its power proven beyond doubt the horror and necessity of wiping it out of existence entirely never to be possible again.

Right now evil is almost at its end and what remains is a short window left and in that short window exists still a chance for us human beings to choose God or Evil.

We have a choice and that choice will only exist for as long as we individually live with mental capacity to choose, after death you cannot make the choice. Or until God proclaims enough is enough, and it is over.  Once God makes His proclamation we are all on one side or the other no longer able to choose.

Idolatry is making the choice to choose anything other than God being first and foremost in our life.

If we live for God, we are not living for the Devil.

We truly cannot live for both, if we do we are living a lie. God sees through lies and into the hearts and knows the hearts. We try to hide our hypocrisy but it isn't something that can be hidden from God.

We provoke God to jealousy when we live the lies trying to enjoy sin for a season while proclaim to love God. There is the knowledge given to us by God to know how to live for Him, the things that come from love, and that knowledge is something a lot of people choose to despise. Once a choice to despise the knowledge of God is made we are in grave danger of becoming blind to the evil that exists. We may then, having allowed ourselves to embrace deception, be unable to comprehend the difference between evil and God.

We are told the truth, we are not forced to live the truth.

May we choose God over all… truly over all other things. May His love be what we live, with Him living in us through the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ.

May we actively choose to partake in the war against Satan, by being a warrior for God. May we comprehend we won't win every skirmish we are involved in, but we must continue to fight against evil not allowing the setbacks we encounter to cause us to change sides.

All by the grace of God!

1Co 10:15  I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 

1Co 10:16  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? 

1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. 

1Co 10:18  Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? 

1Co 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 

1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 

1Co 10:21  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. 

1Co 10:22  Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? 

You Believe- But Do You Live For God?

Run as fast as you can from idolatry! Run! Faster! Run! But first…

You have to recognize a threat before you can be frightened by it, or if not frightened at least concerned that the threat exists.  There are many kinds of threats but one thing about a threat it bodes no good for anyone being threatened. Whether you are threatened by something out of your control- say a hurricane threat, or you are threatened by a thief with a knife- neither of these is under your control. When we are threatened by something of our own making, that's where we have to stop and take inventory of our own selves. You've heard it said and maybe quite often, that we are our own worst enemies and that's true a lot of the time. We self-sabotage, we give in and do things that harm us with either short term or long term damage. Some of our harming is ongoing daily, unendingly. People will see therapists to help them stop their own negative self-destructive ways hoping to get out of the habit (natural or learned) of harming themselves- mentally, emotionally and even physically.

The specific threat in this study we are discussing is one of idolatry. We are told to flee from it…

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 

Yesterday we touched much more in-depth on what idolatry is, today I want to touch on a few of those verses.

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

Idolatry- when we WORSHIP the CREATURE MORE than the CREATOR.

I need you to re-read that, and think about what it is saying.

We are in grave danger when we worship OURSELVES more than we worship God. We are in grave danger when we worship OTHER PEOPLE more than we worship God.

The first commandment of the royal law, the decalogue, states this--

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

You say you don't have any other gods before God, now do your actions prove what your mouth is saying and your mind proclaiming? This is the greater test your life and how you are living it. It is so easy to check the 'yes, I believe in God' box and yet live a life void of the actions to prove the validity of that statement. You might be chuckling and thinking- It's valid, I believe God exists but that doesn't mean I'm going to live my life for Him. The Bible even says that devils believe. (James 2:19) We know devils don't live for God. So it isn't enough to believe.

How many can check the box, 'I live my life for God.'  That's a better gauge than the 'I believe' box.  And if you can check that living your life for God, do you? Is this your daily waking desire, to live your life for God? A life He can use for His purposes, a life He can accept as surrendered to Him? A life that holds true to having NO other gods before Him?

Is the creature (self or others) ranking much higher in your estimation than the Creator?

We are also told this-

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient

Retaining the knowledge of God. Do we? To retain the knowledge of God is to not forget God's will. When we choose NOT to retain the knowledge of God we are choosing to discard His will and replace it with our own. And if our focus is our will being done and not God's then we are not God's at all, but liars and deceivers trying to pretend we belong to God by mouthing the words of belief and showing up to church or Bible study without any heart desire for the will of God to be done.

Faking a relationship with God, or having a half-hearted relationship with God to serve our own ends isn't a real relationship with God. As soon as we decide to serve ourselves we are allowed to be godless, we are given up to our own will. The self-serving, godless mind is an awful thing - even if it comes from a beautiful, seemingly sweet, kind, and gentle façade of a pretend God-fearing person.

We must pray with David…

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

We need to flee our SELF serving, idolatrous ways. We need to flee idolizing other people. We need to run to God and give ourselves over to Him and His leading, worshipping God and no others.

All by the grace, the mercy, the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

What Is Idolatry?

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 

If I tell you to flee from something I'm in essence telling you to run away from something, not walk, but run. FLEE! Move as fast as you can from that thing. Do not hesitate, just run! So when we are told to flee from idolatry we are being told to run away from idolatry as fast as we can.

But what is idolatry?  I looked it up online, and then in a few Bible dictionaries, that are on my Bible app and all that information was incredibly informative so I've copied it here. By the grace and will of God we will discuss what we read here tomorrow.  May God bless us, and enlighten us with His truth so we may not live in the darkness of seemingly acceptable sins. May we not be deceived into believing we are above idol worship, that is does not affect our lives, that it does not try to seep into our way of life pulling us away from God.

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Idolatry-

Dictionary definitions-the worship of idols or false gods, excessive admiration or love shown for somebody or something.

IDOL'ATRY, n. [L. idololatria. Gr. idol, and to worship or serve.]

1. The worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God.

Idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues, pictures, &c. made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals.

2. Excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration.

Idolatry

Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom_1:21-25 : men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (Rom_1:28).

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 

Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 

Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 

The forms of idolatry are,

(1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc.

(2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature.

(3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes.

In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with heathen nations. The first allusion to idolatry is in the account of Rachel stealing her father's teraphim (Gen_31:19),

Gen 31:19  And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. 

which were the relics of the worship of other gods by Laban's progenitors “on the other side of the river in old time” (Jos_24:2).

Jos 24:2  And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. 

During their long residence in Egypt the Hebrews fell into idolatry, and it was long before they were delivered from it (Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7).

Jos 24:14  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 

Eze 20:7  Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 

Many a token of God's displeasure fell upon them because of this sin.

The idolatry learned in Egypt was probably rooted out from among the people during the forty years' wanderings; but when the Jews entered Palestine, they came into contact with the monuments and associations of the idolatry of the old Canaanitish races, and showed a constant tendency to depart from the living God and follow the idolatrous practices of those heathen nations. It was their great national sin, which was only effectually rebuked by the Babylonian exile. That exile finally purified the Jews of all idolatrous tendencies.

The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code. The individual offender was devoted to destruction (Exo_22:20).

Exo 22:20  He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. 

His nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment (Deu_13:2-10),

Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Deu 13:4  Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 

Deu 13:5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 

Deu 13:6  If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 

Deu 13:7  Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 

Deu 13:8  Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 

Deu 13:9  But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 

Deu 13:10  And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

but their hands were to strike the first blow when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned (Deu_17:2-7).

Deu 17:2  If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 

Deu 17:3  And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 

Deu 17:4  And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 

Deu 17:5  Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 

Deu 17:6  At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 

Deu 17:7  The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. 

To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity (Deu_13:6-10).

An idolatrous nation shared the same fate. No facts are more strongly declared in the Old Testament than that the extermination of the Canaanites was the punishment of their idolatry (Exo_34:15, Exo_34:16; Deut. 7; Deu_12:29-31; Deu_20:17), and that the calamities of the Israelites were due to the same cause (Jer_2:17). “A city guilty of idolatry was looked upon as a cancer in the state; it was considered to be in rebellion, and treated according to the laws of war. Its inhabitants and all their cattle were put to death.” Jehovah was the theocratic King of Israel, the civil Head of the commonwealth, and therefore to an Israelite idolatry was a state offense (1Sa_15:23), high treason. On taking possession of the land, the Jews were commanded to destroy all traces of every kind of the existing idolatry of the Canaanites (Exo_23:24, Exo_23:32; Exo_34:13; Deu_7:5, Deu_7:25; Deu_12:1-3).

In the New Testament the term idolatry is used to designate covetousness (Mat_6:24; Luk_16:13; Col_3:5; Eph_5:5).

Mat 6:24  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. 

Luk 16:13  No servant 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. 

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

Eph 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 

Idolatry

Idolatry. Idolatry, strictly speaking, denotes the worship of deity in a visible form, whether the images to which homage is paid are symbolical representations of the true God or of the false divinities, which have been made the objects of worship in his stead.

I. History of idolatry among the Jews. — The first undoubted allusion to idolatry or idolatrous customs in the Bible, is in the account of Rachel's stealing her father's teraphim. Gen_31:19.

During their long residence in Egypt, the Israelites defiled themselves with the idols of the land, and it was long before the taint was removed. Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7.

In the wilderness, they clamored for some visible shape, in which they might worship the God, who had brought them out of Egypt, Exo_32:1, until Aaron made the calf, the embodiment of Apis and emblem of the productive power of nature.

During the lives of Joshua and the elders who outlived him, they kept true to their allegiance; but the generation following, who knew not Jehovah nor the works he had done for Israel, swerved from the plain path of their fathers and were caught in the toils of the foreigner. Jdg_2:1. From this time forth, their history becomes little more than a chronicle of the inevitable sequence of offence and punishment. Jdg_2:12; Jdg_2:14. By turns, each conquering nation strove to establish the worship of its national God.

In later times, the practice of secret idolatry was carried to greater lengths. Images were set up on the corn-floors, in the wine-vats, and behind the doors of private houses, Isa_57:8; Hos_9:1-2, and to check this tendency, the statute in Deu_27:15 was originally promulgated.

Under Samuel's administration, idolatry was publicly renounced, 1Sa_7:3-6, but in the reign of Solomon, all this was forgotten, even Solomon's own heart being turned after other gods. 1Ki_11:14. Rehoboam perpetuated the worst features of Solomon's idolatry, 1Ki_14:22-24, erecting golden calves at Beth-el and at Dan, and by this crafty state' policy, severed forever the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. 1Ki_12:26-33.

The successors of Jeroboam followed in his steps, till Ahab. The conquest of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser was, for them, the last scene of the drama of abominations, which had been enacted uninterruptedly for upwards of 250 years.

Under Hezekiah, a great reform was inaugurated, that was not confined to Judah and Benjamin, but spread throughout Ephraim and Manasseh, 2Ch_31:1, and to all external appearances, idolatry was extirpated. But the reform extended little below the surface. Isa_29:13.

With the death of Josiah, ended the last effort to revive among the people a purer ritual, if not a purer faith. The lamp of David, which had long shed but a struggling ray, flickered for a while, and then went out in the darkness of Babylonian Captivity.

Though the conquests of Alexander caused Greek influence to be felt, yet after the captivity, better condition of things prevailed, and the Jews never again fell into idolatry. The erection of synagogues had been assigned as a reason for the comparative purity of the Jewish worship after the captivity, while another cause has been discovered in the hatred for images acquired by the Jews in their intercourse with the Persians.

II. Objects of idolatry. — The sun and moon were early selected as outward symbols of all-pervading power, and the worship of the heavenly bodies was not only the most ancient, but the most prevalent system of idolatry. Taking its rise in the plains of Chaldea, it spread through Egypt, Greece, Scythia, and even Mexico and Ceylon. Compare Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3; Job_31:20-28. In the later times of the monarchy, the planets or the zodiacal signs received, next to the sun and moon, their share of popular adoration. 2Ki_23:5.

Beast-worship, as exemplified in the calves of Jeroboam, has already been alluded to of pure hero-worship among the Semitic races we find no trace. The singular reverence with which trees have been honored is not without example in the history of the Hebrew. The terebinth (oak) at Mamre, beneath which Abraham built an altar, Gen_12:7; Gen_13:18, and the memorial grove planted by him at Beersheba, Gen_21:33, were intimately connected with patriarchal worship.

Mountains and high places were chosen spots for offering sacrifice and incense to idols, 1Ki_11:7; 1Ki_14:23, and the retirement of gardens and the thick shade of woods offered great attractions to their worshippers. 2Ki_16:4; Isa_1:29; Hos_4:13. The host of heaven was worshipped on the house-top. 2Ki_23:12; Jer_19:3; Jer_32:29; Zep_1:5.

(The modern objects of idolatry are less gross than the ancient, but are none the less idols. Whatever of wealth or honor or pleasure is loved and sought before God and righteousness becomes an object of idolatry. — Editor).

III. Punishment of idolatry. — Idolatry to an Israelite was a state offence, 1Sa_15:23, a political crime of the greatest character, high treason against the majesty of his king. The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code.

The individual offender was devoted to destruction, Exo_22:20, his nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment, Deu_13:2-10, but their hands were to strike the first blow, when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned. Deu_17:2-5.

To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity. Deu_13:6-10.

IV. Attractions of idolatry. — Many have wondered why the Israelites were so easily led away from the true God, into the worship of idols.

(1) Visible, outward signs, with shows, pageants, parades, have an attraction to the natural heart, which often fail to perceive the unseen spiritual realities.

(2) But the greatest attraction seems to have been in licentious revelries and obscene orgies with which the worship of the Oriental idols was observed. (This worship, appealing to every sensual passion, joined with the attractions of wealth and fashion and luxury, naturally was a great temptation to a simple, restrained, agricultural people, whose worship and law demands the greatest purity of heart and of life. — Editor).

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 

A Way to Escape.

1Co 10:11  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. 

Examples, our admonition.

Is it important to recognize that as part of the family of humanity from the very beginning of mankind that we all share a certain fate? That fate is one of our ultimate demise. Because since the beginning we have this end of story life, it is important for us to learn during our life and one way we can learn is by example. We can look to all those who have gone before us. We can read the word of God and in that word we can find many admonitions. Admonitions are cautions, warnings, rebukes- you get the picture. We are given many warnings throughout God's word and you know what? Whenever a person is given a warning if they fail to heed it then that is on them and no other. I can warn someone not to do something until I'm blue in the face, until the cows come home, until the end of time and if they choose to do that very thing it's not for my lack of trying to stop them. Would I feel happy if they chose to not listen? No. I would feel a certain sadness, a disappointment, maybe a little anger too because I only wanted what was best for them. These are all very human emotions, but we were given these emotions by our Creator in order to cope with all the chaos in our lives. The Creator knowing good and evil has reactions to both, and we too have reactions to both- having decided for ourselves that we needed to know good and evil.

We are given admonitions and examples and it is up to us to learn from the examples and heed the warnings. Our choice.

We are furthermore told-

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

We can't allow ourselves the luxury of independent hope, we must have a dependent hope and that dependence is on a Savior. If we happen to be standing it is only because we are being held up by the grace and will, the mercy and love of our Savior- on our own we can only fall- this is something we cannot forget.

1Co 10:13  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 ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

There are many who would dispute this Bible verse, they'd pick it apart piece by piece. Doesn't it seem like temptations are individualized- tailor made to each particular human being? While that may be true in a certain way, in another it isn't. We all have basic temptations that are common among us. No, I may not lust after a particular person- the one you are lusting for, but I may lust after another. I may not be tempted toward stealing store items, but I have no lack of being tempted to take credit for something I didn't do and steal the rightful praise of another. We may not have the same sins in the tiny details but categorically we will all face the same temptations.

We all have to face temptations, you can't live in our world without facing them. And as soon as we begin to call the temptations good things, normal things, things that make us human- we are attempting to take away their wrongness so we can indulge in them without guilt. While they may be normal because they exists for us all, they are never going to be acceptable, they will forever need to be forgiven should we give into them. Like it or not, this is truth. We live in a very flawed world and we will be tempted to engage in a lot of the flaws.

We are told this..

1Co 10:13  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 ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

…because it is true. Our temptations, no matter what they are, are common to man. It's because we are flawed whether we are born with the temptation to steal, or towards lust, or towards murder, or coveting you name your temptation and whether or not it is one you were innately born with or a temptation that has been roused over time and exposure to certain things, there will be a way to escape committing the sin from that temptation.

Giving in to temptation. Ask yourself, is there any temptation you can refuse to give into and it will kill you because you did not give into it? 

You are tempted to steal. Will you die if you don't steal? You might be able to answer yes, then let me ask you- is it better to die without sinning?  Most would say, no. Let me ask you, would you die if you don't commit the sin of lust? No. Will you die if you don't dishonor your parents? No. We don't die from refusing to sin, and if we do die from refusing to sin is it better to die yielding to the righteousness of God, or die sinning- disobeying God?

There is a way to escape sinning brought on by temptation. With every temptation there is a way to keep from giving into the temptation and thereby sinning. If there wasn't a way to keep from sinning, we would not be told to sin no more, we would not be guilty of sinning if it wasn't something under our ability to control through God. God makes the way to keep from sinning, God is faithful.

Right now if we are caught up in any particular sin we need to ask ourselves what way has God faithfully made for us to escape this sin?

We need to search for the escape, diligently search if it isn't something blatantly apparent to us. It is worth searching for because to willfully disobey God is to align ourselves with Satan. And, if we know the ending to the story already and who wins and who doesn't, why do we want to choose the losing side?

God help us to choose You! God help us to diligently seek to follow You at all costs knowing the reward is worth any temporary pain mentally, physically, emotionally that we have to endure right now. Save us, Lord, save us from ourselves. Please, Lord, show us the ways we need to go as we acknowledge You are our God, lead us in the way everlasting! All through Jesus Christ!