"WHO IS YOUR GOD?"
Intro: Assumption of question - every man has a god. Importance of question - you are becoming like your God.
I. BASIC GODS OF O.T. MOLECH, BAAL, MAMMON.
A. Baal worship of intellect.
1. Modern education craze.
2. Education is phanasia to world's ills.
3. Education is good as means to an end but it is not the end.
B. Molech worship of flesh.
1. Live for pleasure, excitement, sensation.
2. Expressed in Epicurean philosophy.
3. Anything that brings pleasure is good.
C. Mammon worship of power.
1. Protagorian theory of philosophy "Might is Right."
2. Some say mammon is money?
a. Why do they want money?
b. Money is closest thing to omnipotence we possess.
c. Money is closest thing to impotence we possess.
II. THE PARADOXES OF THESE FALSE GODS.
A. What is the end of those who worship intellect?
1. The ultimate knowledge the knowledge of God.
a. Agnostic - cannot be known - unknowable.
b. Latin ignoramus.
B. Molech the worship of pleasure - indulges in drink.
1. Lust.
2. Dope addict classic illustration.
3. He who seeks to satisfy all his appetites and desires, ends with an unsatisfiable desire.
C. What happens to him who makes power his god?
1. Ends up a slave.
2. Hattie Green.
III. MAN MAKING GODS.
A. Make him like themselves.
1. Projections of himself to immensity.
B. Makes him less than himself.
1. Eyes do not see.
2. Ears do not hear.
IV. WHEN GOD MAKES A MAN.
A. Makes him like Himself.
1. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."
2. "We with open face beholding the glory."
3. "Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness."
4. "Conformed to His image."
B. Makes him more than he ever could be.
1. My religion is either man-made or God-given.
2. "Righteousness."
V. WHO IS YOUR GOD?
A. Best not to answer the question this morning.
1. Might be more appropriate tonight when one-eyed idol you have erected in your living room is beckoning your attention.
2. Tomorrow night seeking pleasure rather than Word.
B. Watch a man and he will soon reveal his god.
1. He becomes like him.
2. Your very actions reveal your god.