The Idolatry Of Religion

So I want to talk today about the trap of religion.

The trap of religion.

It feels like that.

But first, I want to look at a core issue, and that is idolatry.

And so really quick, can we get, if you'll help me here, with a working definition of idolatry.

What would you say?

Treating something that is not God like God.

Okay.

That's good.

Any other thoughts?

Idolatry.

Say again?

Idol worship.

Idol worship.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, we'll use that sort of supplanting, taking something and putting it in God's spot.

That whole idea is idolatry.

Well, the idea of turning religion into an idolatrous thing is what I want to talk about today.

There's a lot of examples in Scripture of where this very thing happened.

Just a few of them.

The Israelites, remember, when they made the golden calf, that was idolatry.

They took on kind of their own idea of religion and ran with it.

Priests sacrificing, but their hearts were far from God.

Peter wanting to make a tent on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Ananias and Sapphira, the book of Galatians, as they wanted to add something to salvation.

They said, this is true religion.

Let's put more into it.

That is idolatry.

And there's a lot more.

How can religion be bad?

Maybe as a thought that you have.

Well, there's three areas that I just right off the bat that I think about.

Number one is when the gospel is ignored.

So when the true gospel is something that gets distorted or neglected or forgotten and pushed out,

then people make up their own religion.

They make up their own rules.

They make up their own way of coming to God.

Another one is when the authority of scripture is pitched out.

So in other words, when we read the Bible and we say, well, I don't agree with this.

It doesn't feel right.

And then that's pushed out.

Then a brand new fake false religion gets created.

Another one is when the spirit is neglected.

When we gather as a church and maybe in our own hearts, we neglect the Holy Spirit and we don't let him speak and we don't let him move.

Then those other two will come into play as well.

Then I also don't want to hear the conviction of the word.

And I also might have something wrong in my gospel understanding.

All of those will create a place where false religion exists.

Today, I want to talk about a sort of a spectrum of this, if you will.

So the spectrum goes from the behaviors of a true believer, somebody who is in Christ, somebody who has has taken that gospel and believed that Jesus is their salvation and their sins were nailed to the cross and they are forgiven.

And Jesus is who he said he was.

There's that.

Now, the problem is we can fall into gospel neglect, Bible neglect, and also neglecting the spirit.

Even as a believer, we can fall into that trap and then come up with our own ways of behaving, which are not true and not true religion.

Now, if you go all the way to the other side, which is what our example is today in Acts.

If you go all the way to the other side of that same concept, you have a false gospel that doesn't include Jesus, doesn't include his saving grace.

You have no authority of scripture and you have no spirit that operates in a person's life.

But there's this understanding that they want to be around the things of God.

And so a false religion is created.

A false sense of safety.

A false idea of God.

A constructed mechanism that has nothing to do with God himself.

Which, as we understand, is idolatry.

All right.

So, if you would, turn to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

This is where we will find our example that we're going to take apart today and look at together.

Acts chapter 8, starting with verse 9.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

We'll read the passage and then we'll go back and we'll talk about the different pieces of it, okay?

But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria.

That's the group we're talking about, is the Samaritans.

Saying that he himself was somebody great.

They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest.

Saying, this man is the power of God that is called great.

And they paid attention to him.

Because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

Now, just to be clear here.

This has nothing to do with God.

It has nothing to do with religion.

It has nothing to do with true understanding of who God is, okay?

Just to be clear.

Verse 12.

But, when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

They were baptized.

Both men and women.

Even Simon.

This dude that was going around and doing magic.

Even Simon himself believed.

And after being baptized, he continued with Philip.

And seeing signs and great miracles performed.

He was amazed.

Now, that was at what God was doing.

Is that amazement.

Right?

14.

Now, when the apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria.

Samaria, the place that they fought for years.

It was no good.

Their relationship was bad.

But when they heard that Samaria had received the word of God.

They sent to them Peter and John.

Who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For he had not yet fallen on any of them.

But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them.

And they received the Holy Spirit.

18.

Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands.

He offered them money.

Saying, give me this power also.

So that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you.

Because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter.

For your heart is not right before God.

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours.

And pray to the Lord.

That if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

Then Peter goes on.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness.

And in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord.

That nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

So that's our account of Simon.

Simon the sorcerer.

Simon the magician.

Is some of that.

Some of the history there that we pick up on.

Is Simon is a self-proclaimed great guy.

He thought he was great.

And then he went around.

He did this magic.

And then got people on board with that.

To where they were amazed.

The people of Samaria were amazed.

Matter of fact, you look in those first few verses.

Everybody was amazed.

At the things that were happening.

This man, they said, is the power of God.

Whoa.

He was something.

And he had it good from a worldly standpoint.

They all listened to him.

They all followed him.

They all liked what he had to say.

And they liked to be amazed.

In this way.

Simon was, quote, fulfilled.

Although we learn later that his heart was far from it.

Kind of like when people win the lottery.

And then short time later, what happens?

Their whole lives fall apart.

Because they thought that the money was going to do it.

Simon was not truly fulfilled.

He had what he thought would satisfy.

He had what in his mind he thought would be good for him.

And so he devised this setup.

And he worked toward that end.

I want to make a note here.

The first step of false religion is discontent.

Things aren't the way I want them to be.

This doesn't look how I want it to look.

I'm discontent.

So I'm going to leave something.

I'm going to leave the gospel.

I'm going to leave God's word.

I'm going to neglect what the spirit's saying.

And I'm going to devise something on my own.

Because I want it to look like what I want it to look like.

I'm discontent.

A person may not be happy with their current circumstance in some way.

One example of this is social agendas that are changing the landscape of churches.

Over the last however many years, homosexuality has been something that churches have been changing their stance on.

Why?

Well, they've left authority of scripture.

They've left true.

They've left true religion and picked up something fake and said, hey, this feels better to us.

And so this is what we're going to adopt.

Both the Samaritans and Simon started with an interest in being amazed.

They wanted to be amazed.

Look back at verses 12 and 13.

But, but, when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized.

Both men and women.

Even Simon himself believed.

The good news came.

Philip preached the good news, the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus.

And this changed everything.

It changed the dynamic of all the relationships.

It changed what the people were after.

It gave them something to truly be amazed at.

Which was the grace of God.

Through Jesus.

Through the name of Jesus.

That was preached to them.

So, truth invaded.

Truth.

The Samaritans then no longer looked to Simon anymore.

What do you think that happened?

How did Simon build on it?

He goes back into that discontentment column.

Right?

He goes to that other space where now they're not doing what I want them to do anymore.

But at the same side, he believes in what was preached.

And he sees the power in it.

Interesting spot.

Even Simon.

What if the story stopped right there?

What if that's all we knew of this situation?

It would seem that it was similar to other groups we hear about in Acts specifically.

That come to know the Lord.

The gospel is preached.

And then the Holy Spirit descends.

Sometimes they speak in tongues.

Sometimes other great things happen.

And we sort of anticipate that the church grows out of that and goes forward.

And that usually was the case.

We would like to believe that they were all, every last one of them, saved by grace.

We would like to believe that every one of those people that were baptized, including Simon, we would see in heaven one day.

We cannot make the general assumption that all of these people were actually congregants.

One thing is we know the rest of the story.

So making assumptions isn't necessarily a good thing.

Why can't we make assumptions?

Why can't we make that assumption?

That they were all baptized so they're believers.

They all said they believed in some form or fashion.

And then they were baptized.

So can I not make the assumption that they're all saved?

No.

I can't.

I can't.

Matthew 7, 15, 16 says,

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them by their fruits.

How do we know when someone's dressed up as a sheep?

But really, they're bringing something of the enemy.

How do we know?

We know it by their fruit.

We know it by true faith fruit that will come from it.

James 2, 18, but someone will say,

You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works,

and I will show you my faith by my works.

Fruit.

We cannot make the same assumption in our church.

It's dangerous.

This is a dangerous assumption.

To hear someone say,

I believe.

I was baptized.

That's a dangerous assumption.

Because if I just stand on that,

and I never look at the fruit of true repentance,

at the fruit of a true Christ follower,

that person may die and spend eternity away from God,

thinking that they knew him.

We can identify fruit.

Matter of fact, it's imperative.

It's imperative.

On the boat, on the submarine,

one thing that we would do is,

we had this sort of protocol that when you first got there,

you had to go through the gauntlet of being beat up a little bit.

Sometimes physically, sometimes mentally,

sometimes, you know, just in however that was.

And so part of the reason we did that,

at least this is what they said when they were beating you up.

Part of the reason that we would do that

is the idea that when you are a thousand feet under the water

and you still have a month to go,

you've got to be able to hold your own.

You've got to be able to not freak out

or run amok

when the chips are down in that kind of situation.

Well, there's this guy, his name was David Malley.

And he made it through sub-school

and he came to the boat

and we got there almost about the same time.

So I wasn't really one that really put a lot of pressure on David,

but all the rest of the guys did.

And I could see this dude didn't belong.

He did not belong.

He didn't need to be a submariner.

He had a lot of issues.

There was a lot of different issues.

I won't go into too much detail on that.

But there was one day that he was being pressed

by all these guys just over and over and over.

And he finally flipped.

We were working on a barge

and the barge was like basically kind of like two stories.

And then the top, the third story,

was a open air kind of railing.

And they pushed him so far that he kind of wigged out

and he went up to the top.

He ran all the way across the barge

and took a jump over and went into the water.

He was fished out.

He was fine.

But that was the last time we saw David Malley.

He did not have the fruit of a submariner, right?

He didn't have that calmness.

He didn't have that sense of under pressure

when things happen that you make good decisions

and you go about things the way you should.

And it came out.

That came out.

Simon is an example of a guy

that showed the wrong kind of fruit.

Now here we understand that he's a quote believer

and we understand that he was baptized.

But the wrong kind of fruit is what showed up.

It wasn't the fruit of repentance.

Simon was also interesting.

If you look back at 13,

even Simon himself believed

and after being baptized,

he continued with Philip.

He became a missionary of sorts

and went on with Philip to preach the gospel

and spend time with him.

Is that really what he was there for?

And seeing signs and great miracles performed,

he was amazed.

There's an example that I have lived

and maybe you have too

that sort of plays out in our churches.

And I'm painting a broad stroke here.

But what can happen

is that the way you look

in the church is good enough.

If you come in and you say,

I've been baptized, I believe.

And then you just set about the work

of the church.

It's good enough.

And that's fine.

And you'll be welcomed.

Maybe you'll be a committee member,

a leader,

someone who serves,

a giver, a member,

a good attendance.

I knew a lady who gave out

a full attendance things,

pins for the kids

who did Sunday school

and stuff like that.

Maybe you get all the pins

and you do all the things.

That would be the same thing

as an optimist club

or a lion's club

or any other get-together.

You can do all those same things.

You can look the same

as everybody else.

Operate the same exact way.

What sets the church apart?

True.

True gospel.

True relationship

with Jesus Christ.

That's what sets us upon you.

People who are pursuing

another religion

maybe hold tradition

higher

than the movement

of the Holy Spirit.

These are the folks,

and we've all heard about it,

that fight over the carpet color

because that's the most important thing

we can deal with.

Simon was baptized.

These things

do not

make

a Christian.

Just

belief,

baptism,

do not

make

a Christian.

All right?

That's not

necessarily.

There's more to it.

Those things alone.

Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

For by grace

you have been saved

through faith.

And this is not of your own doing.

It's the gift of God.

Something that's given to us

by God.

Not a result of works

so that no one

may boast.

No magic words.

No works.

No, quote,

belief.

Even the demons

believe.

Right?

No baptism.

No being moral.

Nothing you do

earns salvation.

Nothing

you do

earns

your salvation.

It's only

grace

through faith.

Paul Washer said,

does our gospel

presentation

make men excited

about what God

can do for them

on this earth

or about

whom God

is?

Ask yourself

that in your own

heart.

am I connected

to God

for what God

gives me

on this earth?

Or am I

connected

to God

and seek God

because of what

and who

he is?

His attributes,

who he is,

who he provided

to me.

Jesus died

to reconcile

us to God

by nailing

our sin

to the cross.

God is our

ultimate treasure

as believers

and this must

be analyzed

in our hearts.

Is he

your ultimate

treasure

or have you

bought into

the trappings

of religion

and fake

faith?

Simon did.

He had faith

in the scene.

Simon had faith

in what he could

see.

Simon loved

to be amazed.

He walked

by sight

and not by faith.

It was the signs

and wonders

that he wanted

more of

to be amazed.

The things

of God

were only,

were only

what he could

see

and interact

with

on that

level.

If you look

down to

verse 21,

Peter rebukes

him as we

learn.

I'm kind of

skipping ahead.

Of course,

Simon wants

to buy

this ability

to bring

the Holy

Spirit

onto people

through laying

on of hands.

But then

Peter said

to him,

may your

silver perish

with you

because you

thought you

could obtain

the gift

of God

with money.

Now,

it's all

kinds

of wrong.

His heart

is crooked.

It says

it's not

straight.

So he's

way off.

21,

you have

neither part

nor lot

in this

matter

for your

heart

is not

right

before God.

Repent

therefore

of the

wickedness

of yours

and pray

the Lord

that if

possible

the intent

of your

heart

may be

forgiven.

one of

the things

that

aside

here

in this

not

straight

heart

that

he

had

if

you

look

back

at

what

he

wants

in

18

when

Simon

saw

the

spirit

was

given

through

the

laying

of

hands

he

offered

the

money

saying

give

me

this

power

look

at

this

so

that

anyone

on

whom

I

lay

my

hands

may

receive

the

Holy

Spirit

anyone

on

whom

I

lay

my

hands

do

you

hear

him

making

a

decision

there

he's

looking

at

the

group

and

thinking

about

this

and

he's

saying

I

want

to

choose

on

some

level

who

will

get

the

blessing

and

who

will

not

I

want

to

make

that

decision

who's

going

to

get

it

who

won't

I

want

to

bring

this

up

as

a

small

aside

when

we

think

about

our

gifts

when

we

think

about

the

things

that

God

has

given

to

us

to

bless

other

people

with

how

do

you

choose

to

utilize

those

gifts

how

do

you

offer

that

gift

is

it

in

the

spirit

and

in

the

spirits

leading

or

do

you

pick

and

choose

who

will

receive

that

and

who

won't

my

next

question

would

be

what

criteria

do

you

use

when

you

do

that

if

you

decide

whether

to

withhold

your

gift

and

not

offer

it

at

all

if

you

choose

to

let

some

people

in

on

that

and

others

not

if

you

are

choosing

that

what

criteria

do

you

use

to

make

that

happen

on

some

level

it's

selfish

ambition

you

you

you

Maybe we consider on our own heart why we do what we do sometimes.

Well, Peter called him out.

Verse 21.

Simon willfully suppressed and traded the knowledge of God for amazement, for exciting things, for personal gain.

Obviously, he was after power, fame, attention.

That attention, remember, he lost it.

He wanted it back.

He wanted to be the guy again.

For his own spin on religion.

Matthew 6, 1-3.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

So how does religion become ungodly?

I, as I was working on this, I came up with a, I came up actually with a, in my notes, so I kind of visual.

So I put together a flow chart.

And then I made a whole bunch of notes on the flow chart.

And I was like, why don't I just copy this and give it out?

I think that would be way easier.

Than trying to explain what's going on in my brain and get it to what I'm trying to give to you.

So, number one, if you can't read my reading, I apologize.

But that's probably going to be the case on somebody.

Against my notes.

I even rewrote it to make it a little bit neater.

Which, what it's worth.

Okay.

So what this flow chart is, is I want to just really break down what happened here with Simon.

So we'll step through each piece.

The question I'm answering, how does religion become ungodly?

In other words, how do we involve idolatry in religion?

When man idolizes the created instead of the creator, we have idolatry.

So, if you would, in your Bible, turn to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And that's what we're going to use to guide us in this discussion.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

So, if we go to the very top of the flow chart, we see that we are, at least originate, as dead.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world,

following the prince of the power of the air, which is Satan,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,

and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Does Simon fit into that category?

He does.

He fits into that category.

That's where we begin.

Then, just as with the Samaritans, there comes this wonderful day in which the good news is shared.

The gospel is shared.

The truth.

The truth is shared with them.

That for them, it changed everything.

Even for Simon, in a bad way, it changed for him.

But it changed everything.

So, the first block we have is when the good news is presented.

Ephesians, just to pick up at four.

But, God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive.

Who's doing the action there?

God is.

He made us alive together with Christ.

Not of our works.

Not of our own works.

By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Good news.

That's the block.

So, what happens then next?

All of us at one point or another, even this very moment.

The good news is on our doorstep.

It's right in front of us.

We just, we're reading right there.

Why Jesus died in grace.

So, we all get to this second block at one point or another.

We've been there.

What happens?

If you go to the left,

one path is what I'm calling there true religion.

True religion is the religion of the authority of scripture.

It's the true religion of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.

That then is a faithful, a fruitful life, a faithful life.

Look at Ephesians 2.10 if you skip down a little bit.

For we are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

There we are.

That's that life.

Now, as I said at the beginning,

we can fall into the false religion trap.

So, we're going to follow out the worst case scenario

because we're following Simon.

But even in this life, this believer's life,

we can fall into the trap of religion.

I've been there.

I've done this.

Probably you have too.

I've thought that some things were so utterly important and it had nothing to do with God.

I thought that different relationships or different things in the church or different ways to do church

were the most important thing.

And I totally lost sight of Christ.

That has happened to me.

Maybe that's happened to you.

So, that column, that true, faithful, fruitful life can also get caught up in this.

Don't neglect that.

Don't forget that.

But in a bad way, in a way that eternally significant way, there's also other ways this next block goes.

If you go down from good news and you go down the false religion line, one way, if you go to the left,

is just simply the person doesn't care.

You share the good news and they don't care and they walk away and that's that.

There's another column, though.

That is pretty straightforward.

It's pretty simple.

They just reject and that's it.

There's another column.

And this other column goes down a different line altogether.

And it's a column that, for some reason, different things happen.

Number one, the good news is shared.

And then there is this sense of needing to cope with it.

A sense of needing to connect with the good news.

Not in a real way.

A real way would be connecting with Jesus himself.

There's a false way to connect with trappings, religion, man-made things that we talked about.

Now, it might be things like the weeds, the tares and the weeds that Jesus talks about.

Where there is wheat and then there's tares or weeds that look a lot like the wheat.

And they grow up together.

And they look very similar to each other.

But the wheat has fruit.

And the weeds do not.

Big difference.

But for some reason, I'm going to follow out as if I'm going down that line.

I hear the gospel or I understand church.

I understand some things of God.

Maybe I hear about hell.

Something like that.

And I say, I don't want that for me.

So, I need to somehow cope with this.

And there's a pressure then that is put onto me, either from internal or external, that says,

I need to hang around the people at church.

I need to be there.

I need to be with them.

I need to sort of hear these things.

Maybe because I'm supposed to go.

Maybe because from the time I was little, my family, my parents, my grandparents, whoever it might be, said,

You need to do this.

And so, I went and I got my badges for being there at every science school class.

And I got goodies and whatever.

And so, I'm supposed to be there.

Maybe I'm scared not to.

He talks about hell.

I don't want to go to hell.

I don't want that.

I better go.

I better be a part of this group.

I better look like this group.

I better think like this group thinks somehow.

Maybe somehow I just always thought it was important.

Or that it's moral.

Or it's good.

Or I need to fix something in myself.

That when I go and I'm around good people, I feel good.

Maybe that's something.

At any rate, there's a pressure that's put on me to stay and participate.

Now, I'm not the person who just ends that don't care.

Maybe I heard the gospel and I said, I don't care.

And so, I go out and I keep doing my own thing.

That's not this person.

This person is the weeds.

Or the weeds.

The tear.

The one that grows up next to the weed.

The one that's a part of things and feels the pressure to remain a part of everything.

In Matthew 13, when Jesus talks about the weeds that grow up in the group,

you know who put those weeds there?

The enemy.

He says the enemy put them there.

Why would the enemy put people among other people?

Some believe and some don't.

Why would the enemy want that?

Disruption.

Division.

Fighting.

Ruining.

Destroying.

It goes on and on.

I'm sure we've all seen it.

We've all seen it.

So, when the pressure's on, for whatever reason, I need to hang around the church.

The only thing is, there's nothing inside of me that would produce fruit.

Because the spirit, just like Simon, the spirit was not in Simon.

There's nothing inside of me that produces that fruit.

So, what do I do?

Works.

I come up with ways that I can produce it myself.

I'm going to be better.

I'm going to stand tall.

I'm going to pick up my bootstraps.

I'm going to be moral.

I'm going to do whatever I can do for worse.

So, I can fix that problem of not having a power that's not my own.

What does that look like?

Number one is I might mimic.

I'm going to act like everybody around me.

I'm going to participate with this group.

And then I'm going to act like everybody else acts.

I'm going to use the words that they use.

I'm going to act like they do.

I'm going to tithe.

I'm going to do whatever they do.

I'm going to copy that exactly.

Because I have to work for it.

But there's still no real fruit.

Second thing I might do is a doing.

I'm going to serve.

I'm going to encourage everyone to be moral.

I'm going to give.

I'm going to find ways to functionally participate.

Whatever that looks like.

I'm going to functionally participate with the group.

Although that's exactly the same as any club or civic organization, isn't it?

There's no difference.

There's no difference.

Third, I'm going to reason.

I'm going to reason things out.

I'm going to attack the scripture and twist it to make it fit my life better.

I'm going to use platitudes that have nothing to do with God's word.

But it's something I'm going to paint over life to make it where I feel comfortable with it.

I may ignore it all completely.

No love for God's word.

If I'm in this line and I'm works-based and I'm trying to look like everybody else,

will I have a love for the scripture?

No.

Because the spirit isn't in me.

I couldn't care less about God's word.

Couldn't care less.

And certainly disregard the authority of scripture.

The fourth thing.

What happens when you get a whole group of people together who think this same way?

Who function this same way?

Who have not taught the gospel?

Year after year.

Decade after decade.

And now the sons and daughters and grandchildren of the ones who never taught it

are now the ones in the church.

You have a corporate complacency.

Nobody cares.

Nobody.

The whole group chooses to check out.

There's no accountability.

They calm their own fears.

And they encourage each other in how to cope.

I'm okay.

You're okay.

The fact is, they're all going to hell.

Because the gospel is not true.

Not for them.

So what happens when you can't be what you think you should?

Remember the pressure.

That's what keeps them there.

They don't just quit and leave.

The pressure keeps them there.

Whatever internally says you need to stay.

You need to stay in the church.

You need to stay and do this.

What happens when they finally say, you know what?

I can't be what they think I should be.

I can't be what I think I should be.

These works are getting me nowhere.

What happens?

Then it begins to unravel.

The whole thing starts to fall apart.

Then things like frustration, bitterness, unfulfilled, hopelessness, the charade just falls apart.

Because you cannot keep it up.

You cannot keep it up.

Only the power of Christ in us is what can bring about good works.

So you drop out.

You hide deeper.

You double your efforts to look more fantastic in the church.

Or you fight and you cause division.

Why does the enemy want the weeds in the church?

Because at some point, they're going to say, I can't do this and I don't believe it.

And then they start to cause division.

Acts 20.

29.

29.30.

Paul's on the beach and he's telling the church there he's about to leave and he's trying to warn them

and give them this word of warning and encouragement.

I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

He knew it was coming because they were there.

The weeds were there.

What do we do?

What do we do?

Go back to Acts.

And what does Peter's, what does he say in verse 24?

I'm sorry.

In 22.

He says, your heart's not right.

22.

Repent.

Therefore.

Repent.

Therefore.

Repent of the wickedness.

Repent of your sin.

Pray for forgiveness.

In other words, on the sheet that I gave you there, what do we do?

We go back to the top.

And we hear that good news.

And we listen to it, maybe with ears for the first time.

And you pray for forgiveness.

And you repent.

Turn to his grace.

Submit.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

That's what you do.

Stop trying to cope with what you've maybe created.

On your own.

Stop trying to make something that doesn't work, work.

Even in our lives.

Even in our, a believer's life.

Don't, don't, idolatry.

Don't switch what is God's for something that's not.

That's of yourself.

You have to answer this for yourself.

Don't ignore the issues that indicate self-reliance.

Right?

These things will come up.

All these things will come up.

The divisiveness.

The, the, uh, hopelessness.

The lack of faith.

The lack of, of, uh, trust.

These things will come up.

Don't neglect that.

Are you frustrated today with the things of God?

Are you hopeless?

Are you angry?

Humble yourself.

Submit your will.

And take on Jesus's yoke.

Be free.

Be free.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.