Idols Abolished

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Ephraim shallsay, Whathave I to do anymore with idols?" Hosea 14:8.

IDOLATRY was the great sin of the 10 tribes represented by Ephraim.
Indeed, it is the sin of the entire human race! When we speak of
idolatry we need not think of blocks of wood and stone and men bowing
down before them, for our native land swarms with idolaters. Neither
need you go into the streets to find them. Stay where you are and look
into your own hearts–you will find idols there. This is the one easily
besetting sin of our nature–to turn aside from the living God and to
make unto ourselves idols in some fashion or another. The essence of
idolatry is this–to love anything better than God, to trust anything
more than God, to wish to have a god other than we have, or to have
some signs and wonders by which we may see Him, some outward symbol or
manifestation that can be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears
rather than to rest in an invisible God and believe the faithful
promise of Him whom eye has not seen nor ear heard.

In some form or other this great sin is the main mischief in the heart
of man. And even in saved men this is one of the developments of
remaining corruption. We may very easily make an idol of anything and
in many different ways. No doubt many mothers and fathers make idols of
their children. And so many husbands and wives idolize each other and
we may even make idols of ministers, even as there were idol shepherds
of old. Equally is it certain that many a thoughtful man makes an idol
of his intellect. Many another makes an idol of his gold, or even of
that little home wherein he enjoys so much content. The ignorant papist
holds up his crucifix and worships that–and that is one of his idols.

But men who are better instructed often take the Bible and read it and,
failing to get through the letter into the spirit, they trust in the
mere act of Scripture reading and make even the Word of God, itself, to
become an idol to them through their resting in a mere creed, or in
Bible reading–not pressing through it to spiritual hearty worship of
God, Himself. Anything, however holy, which comes between us and the
personal dealing of our soul with God, as He is revealed in Christ
Jesus by faith and love and hope, becomes an idol to us!

There are idols of all sorts, more or less intrinsically valuable. Just
as in material substances one idol is made of wood, another of stone,
another of silver and another of gold so that these idols differ in
value and yet they are all idols, so may men, according to their
different grades of mind, make an idol of this or of that or of the
other, every man according to his own fancy. Many of these idols may,
in themselves, be considered good enough–but when they are made into
idols they are none the better for that–a golden idol is just as
obnoxious to God as a wooden one! And so the dearest and best thing on
earth, if it is allowed to come between us and God, as an idol, becomes
an abomination in the sight of the Most High.

O Brothers and Sisters, when you cannot trust the Providence of God,
but feel as if you must have something of visible substance to lean
upon, you idolize your savings, or the money you covet! When you cannot
take the bare promise of God and dare not risk everything for God, but
need something over and above the Word of God to rest in, you idolize
your own selfishness! When you must have marks and signs and evidences
of the things which God has plainly declared– and will not believe God
unless you have corroborative proof–you are playing the idolater's
part! Yet human nature continually craves for more than God
All-Sufficient because it is so carnal that it will not trust the
Invisible One. It is, therefore, a supreme work of Grace when God
brings any man to say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" I ask
your attention to four points.

I. And the first is this–I want you to notice THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THIS
PREDICTION. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?"
God speaks of Ephraim as if Ephraim would do and must do what He
declared it should do. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more
with idols?" But who was this Ephraim? If we look at him as an
individual, he represents the 10 tribes of Israel at the time when they
were wedded to strange gods. Ephraim is a man

and, therefore, he has a will of his own. He is a depraved man and,
therefore, he has an obstinate will. And yet God speaks about Ephraim
as positively as if he had no will, and states that he shall say, "What
have I to do any more with idols?"

It would be very difficult to say what the wind will do–very hard to
say what the waves will do. But man's will is more changeable and
uncontrollable than the winds and the waves! Yet God speaks as if
Ephraim were absolutely in His hands and He tells us what Ephraim shall
say, and, in fact, what Ephraim shall feel. It is wonderful–is it
not?–that God, who knows the inconstancy and willfulness of humans,
thus speaks about the mind of man and declares what he shall say and
what he shall feel?

Now, in all this it is to be observed that there is no violation of the
human will. Men are not blocks of wood, nor lumps of unconscious clay!
God has made man a creature that wills and determines and judges for
himself and He deals with him as such. There are persons who seem to
fancy that whenever we speak of God as being Omnipotent in the realm of
mind and speak of His declaring what men shall do and feel, that we,
therefore, deny free agency. By no manner of means! We are never
prepared, for the sake of one Truth of God, to deny another! And we do
as heartily believe in free agency as we do in predestination!

It has never been our custom to murder one Truth of God in order to
make room for another! There is room enough for two Truths of God in
the mind of the man who is willing to become as a little child. Yes,
there is room in a teachable heart for 50 Truths of God to live without
contention! God treats men as men and as intelligent creatures. Having
granted them power of judgment and will, He treats them as such, and He
does not use that force upon the soul which it would be legitimate to
use upon a piece of metal if it had to be bored or to be melted! Nor
does He even use such force as it is legitimate to use upon "an ox and
an ass which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with
bit and bridle, lest they come near unto you."

No, no! Under Heaven there is no man whose will God has ever violated!
He has made the saved man's will all the freer by the constraints which
Grace has put upon it! Grace does not enchain the will, but frees the
will! And when a man sincerely says, "What have I to do any more with
idols?" though that speech is totally contrary to all the intent of his
former life, yet he says it with the full consent of his heart! No, he
never said anything more willingly than he says this, when God, by
Divine power has, "made him willing in the day of His power!" I wonder
whether you are able to grasp, dear Brothers and Sisters, and lay hold
of these two great Truths of God–first, that man is made a creature
responsible for all his actions, and a free agent so constituted that
God, Himself, will not violate that free agency!

And yet this other Truth of God which we will maintain with all
boldness–that God is as Omnipotent in the region of mind and free
agency as He is in the realm of mere matter! He looks upon the hills
and they smoke. He touches the earth and it trembles. The sea obeys Him
and pauses where He bids it stay. Yes, earthquake and tempest are
entirely under His control! Nobody who believes in an Omnipotent God
doubts these things. But it is equally true that God enlightens the
dark understanding with a flash of His Spirit. It is true that God
removes the iron sinew of the obstinate will. As to the
affections–when the heart is like stone, cold, dead, heavy,
immovable–He has a way of turning the stone to flesh. He can do what
He wills with men and when His Spirit puts forth all His power, though
men may resist, yet there is a point beyond which resistance absolutely
ceases and the soul is led in joyful captivity to the conquering Spirit
of the blessed God!

Now, somebody will again say, "But how do you make this consistent? You
now talk contrary to the statements you made before." No, my dear
Brother, I do not. They are both true–man is free, yet God is a
Sovereign in the world of free minds–working His own way and speaking,
thus, positively, without if or but or an. Don't you know that He will
have His will and man's will shall willingly bow to His will, for He
alone is Lord? Let me read you God's wills, God's wonderful wills, as
they stand in this chapter, "I will heal their backsliding. I will love
them freely for My anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew
unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive
tree, and his smell as Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do
any more with idols?"

God speaks about men as if they were absolutely puppets in His hands
and yet, at the same time, in other places He puts them upon their
personal responsibility–both the doctrines are true! It is not yours
or mine to ask how they are to be reconciled, much less to cast either
of the Truths of God away! But let us hold them both fast, for these
two shall be a clue through many a mystery of intricate doctrine and
lead us into the light of God on many a dark saying. I rejoice to

hear the almighty Lord speak thus divinely of what man shall do! And I
adore the amazing wisdom and power which can rule over free agents!

II. But now, secondly, in our text we see A MARVELLOUS CHANGE. "Ephraim
shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" Who is this Ephraim?
Why, if you read the book of Hosea through you will find him turning up
continually. Ephraim–Who was he? Who is this that says, "What have I
to do any more with idols?" I will tell you. It is that same Ephraim of
whom the Lord had said, "Leave him alone: he is given unto idols." This
is different talk, is it not? At one time he is "glued" to his idols,
for that is the word used in the original–glued to them as if he was
stuck to them and could not get away at all.

But here he is saying, "What have I to do any more with them?" What a
change it is! Is that the same man? Yes, the same man. But mark what
the Grace of God has done for him. See, also, how resolute he is. He
speaks plainly and positively, "What have I to do any more with idols?"
Is this the same man that we read of in a former chapter, "Ephraim is a
silly dove without heart"? Yes, he was "a silly dove without heart,"
but now, this same Ephraim, is saying, "What have I to do any more with
idols?" He is speaking as if he had received a new, enlightened, bold
and decided heart! This is a change, is it not?

The man who was glued to his idols and full of vacillation whenever
better things came before him, is now clean separated from his former
trusts and made to hate them! He no longer vacillates and hesitates,
but takes his stand and asks with glorious promptitude, "What have I to
do any more with idols?" It is a great change! And it is such a great
change as many of us have undergone! And it is such a change as
everybody here must undergo or else they shall never see the face of
God with acceptance! Conversion, which is the first fruit of
regeneration, makes such a difference in a man that it is as though he
had been dead and buried and were now raised from the dead into newness
of life! It is as much a change as if the man were destroyed and then
were made a new creature in Christ Jesus!

I wonder whether you have all felt such a change as this? I sometimes
meet with persons who claim to be Christians and Believers and all
that, but they have never experienced any change that they can remember
from their babyhood. Well, dear Friend, there must have been such a
change if you are a Christian! I will not say that you ought to know
the day and the hour, but, depend upon it, if you are now what you were
when you were born, you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds
of iniquity! If there has not been a turning, you are going the wrong
way! Every man must be turned from the way in which father Adam set his
face, for our face is towards sin and destruction, and we must be
turned right round so as to have our faces towards holiness and
everlasting life.

Where there is not such a turning, there is the most solemn cause for
heart-searching, humiliation and for the seeking of salvation! Have you
undergone a great transformation? The necessity for it is no fantasy of
mine, remember. It is that most solemn word of the New Testament–"You
must be born again." There must be a complete and total change in you,
so that the things you once loved you come to hate and the things you
hated you are made to love–as great a change as there was in Ephraim
who was formerly glued to his idols and then came to abhor them!

I pray you all search and see whether such a difference has been made
in your hearts by the Holy Spirit–for a mistake here will be fatal. If
you have never undergone such a renewing, let the prayer be breathed
that the Holy Spirit may now renew you in the spirit of your mind. And
if you hope that such a change has taken place upon you, then may God
grant it may be a real abiding conversion, so that you may remain in
Grace and go from strength to strength till the idols are utterly
abolished and your whole nature shall become the temple of the living
God! Thus, we have two remarks–a sovereign prediction and a marvelous
change.

III. Thirdly, there is in our text AN IMPLIED CONFESSION. "Ephraim
shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" "Any more with
idols?" Then, Ephraim, you have had a good deal to do with idols up
till now? "Yes," he says, with tears in his eyes, "that I have."
Hypocrites mean less than their language expresses, but true penitents
mean much more than their bare words can convey. The confession of the
text is all the more hearty because it is tacit and, as it were, slips
out unintentionally. Listen earnestly dear Hearers, for, perhaps, some
of you may be worshipping idols now.

We will go into the temple of your heart and see whether we can find a
false god there. I go into one heart and, as I look up, I see a
gigantic idol! It is gilded all over and clothed in shining robes! Its
eyes seem to be jewels and its forehead is "as bright ivory overlaid
with sapphires." It is a very lovely idol to look upon. Come not too
close, do not examine too severely, nor so much as dream of looking
inside the hollow sham! Within it you will find all manner of
rottenness and

filthiness, but the outside of the idol is adorned with the greatest
art and skill–and you may even become enamored by it as you stand and
gaze upon it! What is its name? Its name is self-righteousness!

Well do I remember when I used to worship this image which my own hands
had made till one morning my god had his head broken off and,
by-and-by, I found his hands were gone. And soon I found that the worm
was devouring it and my god that I worshipped and trusted in turned out
to be a heap of dross and dung–and I had thought it to be a mass of
solid gold with eyes of diamonds! Alas, there are many men to whom no
such revelation has been given. Their idol is still in first-rate
condition. True, perhaps, at Christmas time it gets a little out of
order and they feel that they did not quite behave as they ought when
the bottle went round so freely–but they have called in the goldsmith
to overlay the idol with new gold and gild the chipped places afresh!

Have they not been to church since then? Did they not go on Christmas
morning to a place of worship and make it all right? Have they not
repeated extra prayers and given a little more away to charity? So they
have furbished their god up again and he looks very respectable! Ah, it
is easy to tinker him up, my Brothers and Sisters, until the Ark of the
Lord comes in! And then all the smiths in the world cannot keep this
god erect! If the Gospel of Jesus Christ once enters into the soul,
then, straightway, this wonderful god begins to bow himself and, like
Dagon, who was broken before the Ark of the Lord, self-righteousness is
dashed to pieces!

But there are thousands all over this world who worship this god and I
will tell you how they pray to it. They say, "God, I thank you that I
am not as other men are," and so on–not exactly in the Pharisee's
language, but after the same style. "Lord, I thank you that I pay
everybody 20 shillings in the pound and have brought up my children
respectably. God, I thank you that I have been a regular church-going
or chapel-going man all my life. God, I thank you that I am not a
swearer, nor yet a drunk, nor anything of that kind. I am far better
than most people and if I do not get to Heaven it will be very bad for
my neighbors, for they are not half as good as I am!"

In this manner is this monstrous deity adored! I am not speaking of
what is done in Hindustan, but of an idolatry very fashionable in
England! The god of self-righteousness is lord paramount in millions of
hearts! Oh, that every worshipper of that god may be led to say, "What
have I to do any more with this abominable idol?" Another sort of god I
have seen in the human heart is the idol of darling sin. A person not
long ago said–"Well, I suppose there is a good deal in religion, but,
you see, I am on the turf and I could not leave it. How could I? I
could not, of course, become a Christian, and yet be known to be a
betting man." Yes, the betting ring was his god. The running horse is
as favorite a deity as were the calves of Bethel.

Another man says, "Yes, yes. I should be glad to be a Christian, but,
you see, I love the bottle. I must occasionally enjoy a drop too much.
Not often, you know, but now and then at convivial meetings, holidays
and bonfire nights. A man must be drunk sometimes, must he not? And
where's the harm? I could not give it up." They do not say so in actual
words, but that is what they mean, thousands of them! They must still
keep Bacchus for their god and offer him their sacrifices. And, ah,
what sacrifices they make! How they ruin health and destroy life,
itself, beggar their children, make their wives wretched–and all to
worship this dunghill god of drink!

Others have some other darling sin. I need not mention all. In fact I
could not, for the cheek of modesty would tingle if we were to mention
certain of the vices which men and women feel that they could not cease
from. They would gladly be saved in their sins, but not from their
sins. They would worship God after a fashion, but the first place must
be given to this darling lust of theirs. O Sir, I care not what idol it
is, but if there is anything in this world that you love better than
Christ, you can never see the face of God with joy! If there is any sin
that you would persevere in, I beseech you change your mind about it
and cut it off though it is a right hand! Pluck it out though it is a
right eye! It were better for you to enter into life maimed and with
one eye than having both hands and both eyes to be cast into Hell fire!
Darling sins must be renounced if Christ is to be enjoyed!

Behold how idolaters disagree–one adores righteous self and another
worships sinful self–but both idols must be utterly abolished! In some
men's hearts I see the love of pleasure. That god is seated on the
throne of many hearts. They are overcome, not so much by the grosser
sins, as by their natural levity and trifling. They cannot think. They
do not want to think. They say they are, "dull," if they have to be
quiet for awhile. They like to be always amused, gratified, excited.
Now, there is a measure of recreation which is as good as medicine to
both body and soul. And there are proper

recreations to be had. God has provided innocent pleasures and we shall
do well to accept them with gratitude from our heavenly Father.

But to be a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God is to be dead
while you live! To make your belly your god, to live to eat and drink,
to be just meat-digesters and wine-strainers, to be living here merely
to enjoy yourself– butterflies flitting from flower to flower,
gathering no honey, but merely seeking pleasure–this is evil! Sirs,
this is a god that will not be worshipped by one who knows the love of
the real God, for his god is his pleasure and pleasure is not his god.
He casts aside, full often, things that he might otherwise have allowed
himself to enjoy, that he may honor and glorify his Savior the more.

Many worship the golden calf. They indulge no vice and pursue no
pleasure except their one vice and their one pleasure which is their
greed of gold. If you want to awaken all their energies, jingle a
guinea near them! This they pursue as the hounds pursue the fox, never
resting. They fear they will be poor when they are old. They make
themselves poor when they are young. And, lest they should be starved
at last, they starve themselves to the last! We have known some to whom
honor, love, uprightness, integrity, religion have all been nothing
whatever, so long as gain could be had by sacrificing them. The great
fabric of their fortune has rolled along, like the car of Juggernaut,
crushing everything that has been in its way.

Widows might weep and orphans might lament. The groans of those whom
they oppressed might go up to Heaven and the iniquities which they have
perpetrated might go before them unto judgment–but it was nothing to
them. They were adding field to field and house to house and getting
richer and richer–they lived for that and for that they seemed content
to die. O God, convert the man who worships gold! Milton, you know,
describes the demon of greed as–

"Mammon the least erected spirit that fell

From Heaven, for even in Heaven

His looks and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of Heaven's pa vement, trodden gold,

Than anything Divine or holy else enjoyed

In vision Beatific."

This vice is very degrading and well does Milton place Mammon in Hell
and say–

"Let none admire That riches grow in Hell. That soil may best Deserve
the precious bane."

Now, when the Lord delivers a man from the power of the devil, he
cries, "What have I to do any more with making wealth my idol?" He
grows content, becomes the Lord's steward and uses his substance in the
service of Jesus.

We must go round these temples as quickly as we can and not stop long
in any one of them, for they are not very sweet–some in the temple of
their hearts have set up unlawful attachments. They form connections
which are forbidden by the Word of God. For instance, I have known some
who profess to be Christians–God knows whether they ever were or
not–who have put altogether out of court the command of our Lord not
to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. They have followed the
dictates of the flesh by joining in marriage with the ungodly. It is a
dreadful thing to be married to one from whom you know you must be soon
separated forever–one who loves not God and, therefore, can never be
your companion in Heaven!

If that is your case, already, your prayers should day and night go up
to Heaven for the partner of your bosom, that he or she may be brought
to Christ. But for any young person willfully to form such a tie is to
set up an idol in the place of God! Weeping and wailing will come of it
before long! Any form of love which divides the heart from Jesus is
idolatry and, alas, I fear the idols are as many as the trees of the
field! Lord, remove them far from us! A great number of persons worship
an idol called the praise of men. They speak after this fashion, "Oh,
yes, you are right enough, but, you see, I could not do it." Well, why
not? "Why, I do not know what my uncle would say about it, or I could
not tell how my wife would like it. I am not sure if my grandfather
would be pleased with me."

The fear of relatives and the dread of public opinion hold many in
mental and moral bondage–and the fear of men holds many more. I pity
those who dare not do what they believe to be right! It seems to me to
be the grandest of all

liberties, the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free! The liberty to
do and dare anything which conscience commands in His name. But numbers
of people have to ask other people to allow them to breathe, to allow
them to think, to allow them to believe anything! And there is nothing
they are so frightened of as Mrs. Grundy. The little society in which
they live is all in all to them. What will So-and-So think of it? The
working man dares not go to a place of worship because the carpenters
in the shop would be down upon him. The men that work with him would be
saying to him, "Halloa! What? Are you one of those methodistical
fellows?"

Many men who are six feet high are cowards and are afraid of some
little body half their height! They are afraid that some worthless
fellow would make a joke at their expense–and to be joked at seems to
be something dreadful! O poor souls! Poor souls! All the jokes they are
likely to get will be very lukewarm water compared with the scalding
hot cauldron into which some of us have been plunged into year after
year–when we could not speak a word without having it
misinterpreted–and could not utter a sentence without being belied!
Yet they shrink from their little persecutions as if they were a great
martyr!

We are alive, after all the assaults which were made upon us, and not
much the worse for them–and so will you be, too, dear Friends–if you
have the heart and the courage to do and dare for the Lord Jesus
Christ! This idol of the fear of man devours thousands of souls! This
is a bloodthirsty idol! It is as cruel as any of the idols of the
Hindus–this "fear of man which brings a snare." Some of you know that
you are altogether mean in spirit and dare not do what you know you
ought to do for fear somebody or other should make a remark about how
strange and how odd you are. God help you to have done with that idol!

Thus we have considered the implied confession that we have had most
evil dealings with idols.

IV. The last point is to be THE RESOLUTE QUESTION, "What have I to do
any more with idols?" Let us put it this way, "What have I to do any
more with them? I have had enough to do with them. What have my sins
done for me, already?" Brothers and Sisters, look at what sin has done
for us and all our race! It made that beautiful Eden, which was our
garden of delight, to be a wilderness! It has made us to be the
children of toil and sorrow! What has sin done for us? It has stripped
us of our beauty! It has put us away from God! It has set the flaming
cherubim with the drawn sword to keep us back from coming near to God
as long as we live in sin.

Sin has wounded us, spoiled us, killed us, corrupted us! Sin has
brought disease into the world and dug the grave and bred the worm. O
Sin, you are the mother of all the griefs and groans and sighs and
tears that ever befell men and women in this world! O wretched Sin,
what have we to do any more with you? We have had more than enough of
you! And have not you and I, personally, had quite enough to do with
our idols? I had enough to do with my self-righteousness, I do boldly
say, for, oh, how I loathe to think that I should ever have been such a
fool as to think that there was anything good in me–to think that I
could ever have dreamed of coming before God with a righteousness of my
own!

Oh, how I abhor the thought! God forbid for one single moment that I
should ever be other than ashamed of having boasted in anything that I
could do, or feel, or be! Do you not feel yourselves humiliated at the
remembrance of such pride and presumption? What have you to do any more
with the idol of righteous self? Nothing! We can never bow down before
that any more! With regard to other idols, have you not smarted enough
about them? The convert who was once a drunk will say, "I have had
enough to do with the cup of intoxication. Who has woe? Who has redness
of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine. The men of strength to
mingle strong drink." The winebibber has had enough to do with that. He
has paid heavy smart money and now he has done with rioting and excess
forever.

The man who has plunged into vice will often have to say, "It has
injured me in body, mind and estate. What more can I have to do with
it?" "Ah," said one to me the other day, "when I lived in sin it was so
expensive that it will take me years to recover what I have wasted upon
the devil and myself. I am not the man for the service of God that I
could have been if it had not been for that." Ah, we have all had
enough of it–more than enough of it! There is no cup of sin, however
sweet it was in the day of our unregeneracy, but we feel that we want
no more of it–not even with all its beaded bubbles sparkling on the
brim when it moves itself right. We are sick of it–sick to the death
and the very name of it causes nausea in our soul. What have I to do
any more with idols when I consider what idols have done for me?

But there is another view of it. "What have I to do any more with
idols?" Do you see? Can you bear to look upon that strange sight
yonder–three crosses set upon a hill. And on the center one a wondrous
Man, in fearful agony, nailed to the wood. If you look at Him you will
see that there is such a mixture of majesty in His misery that you
discover Him,

at once, to be your Lord! Lo, it is the Bridegroom of your soul–your
heart's best Beloved! And He is nailed up there like a felon hanged to
die! Who nailed Him there? Who nailed Him there, I say? Where is the
hammer? Where did the nails come from? Who nailed Him there?

And the answer is–Our idols nailed Him there! Our sins pierced His
heart! Ah, then, what have I to do any more with them? If I had a
favorite knife and with it a murderer had killed my wife, do you think
I would use it at my table or carry it about with me? Away with the
accursed thing! How I should loathe the very sight of it! And sin has
murdered Christ! Our idols have put our Lord to death! Stand at the
foot of the Cross and see His murdered, mangled body, bleeding with its
five great wounds and you will say, "What have I to do any more with
idols?" The vinegar and gall, the bloody sweat and death pangs have
divorced my soul from all its ancient loves and wedded my heart forever
to the Well-Beloved, even the King of kings! "What have I to do any
more with idols?"

Nothing separates a man from sin like a sense of the love and the
sufferings of Jesus! Redeeming Grace and dying love–these ring the
death-knells of our lusts and idols–

"Soon as faith the Lord can see,

Bleeding on a Cross for me,

Quick my idols all depart,

Jesus gets and fills my heart!"

Now, you may remember, again, that we must have no more to do with
idols, for the same sins which put our Lord to death will put us to
death if they can. O child of God, you never sin without injuring
yourself! The smallest sin that ever creeps into your heart is a robber
seeking to kill and to destroy! You never profited by sin and never
can. No, it is poison, deadly poison to your spirit. Do not, therefore,
tolerate it for an instant. What have you to do with it? You know it is
to be evil, only evil, and that continually. You know that it injures
your faith, destroys your enjoyment, withers up your peace, weakens you
in prayer, prevents your example being beneficial to others–and for
all these reasons what have you to do any more with idols?

Moreover, what have you to do any more with idols, now that you are a
child of God–now that you are an heir of Heaven? A poor boy sits down
and plays with bits of mud in the street and makes dirt pies with his
little friends. One day there comes up a king's messenger who has
discovered that this is a lost child from the palace! The child is
taken home and washed. He is clothed in royal apparel and is told that
he is a prince and that he is heir to a kingdom! Will he go back and
play with the dirty boys in the street, again, and be a gutter-child, a
street Arab? No, not he! He will be trained to something nobler and
more befitting his position.

And though you and I once loved the sin that others love and found
amusement where others find it, we have now, by faith, received power
to become the sons of God! We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Jesus Christ! What have we to do any more with idols? What manner of
people ought we to be whom the Lord has adopted into the royal family
of Heaven? Within a few months some of us will be in Heaven–perhaps
within a few weeks. What have we to do with idols? Even while we are
here, the Lord has raised us up together and made us sit together in
the heavenlies in Christ. What have we to do any more with idols? This
day are we accepted in the Beloved, the elect of God, justified by
faith–our names are engraved on the palms of Jesus' hands! What have
we to do any more with idols? Truly, the question answers itself. We
have nothing to do with them except to loathe them! And whenever they
are set up in our hearts, even for a moment, we are to break them down
by the power of the Eternal Spirit.

Now Beloved, if God has worked a great work in you and changed your
hearts so that the idols you once worshipped you now detest, I would
ask you to keep away from the idols all you can. If you have nothing to
do with them, do not go into the places where they are held in honor.
"What have I to do any more with idols?" If I knew that a street was
infected with small-pox, I should not go out of my way to ride down it!
I had rather go round about to avoid the plague. Let it be so with your
once darling sin! Get as far away from it as you can, even as you would
keep clear of a leper! You have nothing more to do with idols,
therefore do not enter their temples or make a league with their
worshippers.

It is an old Rabbinical tradition with regard to the Nazarites that as
they were not to drink wine so they were bid not eat the grape, nor go
through a vineyard. The old proverb was, "O Nazarite, go about, go
about, but go not through a vineyard lest you be tempted to eat of the
grape and afterwards to drink of the juice thereof." There is a great
spiritual and moral lesson here for us. Keep as far away from sin as
ever you can! If you have learned to say, "What have I

to do any more with idols?" avoid the very appearance of evil and all
those communications which corrupt good manners.

The ale house, the dancing saloon and the theater are not for you. I
loathe to hear Christian people say, "What do you think of
this-and-that foolish amusement? Do you think I might go as far as
that?" Well, my dear Friend, if you enjoy anything that has any filth
in it, I question whether you know anything about the love of God at
all! You remember Rowland Hill's observation to the person who said he
liked to go the theater. The person said, "Well, you know, Mr. Hill, I
am a member of the Church. And I do not go to the theater often. I only
go once or twice a year, just for a treat."

"Ah," said Mr. Hill, "you are a great deal worse than I thought you
were! Suppose it were reported commonly that Mr. Hill fed on carrion
and was very fond of eating rotten meat. And suppose somebody came to
me and said, 'I hear, Mr. Hill, that you are very fond of eating
carrion.' 'Oh, no,' I say, 'Not at all. I do not regularly feed on it,
I only eat a dish of it once or twice a year for a treat!' Then
everybody would say, 'You are fonder of it than we thought. For if poor
creatures have to eat it every day because they cannot get anything
better, their taste is not so corrupt as yours who turn away from
wholesome food and find rottenness to be a dainty dish.'"

If you can find your pleasure and delight where sin of the worst kind
is always very near at hand, where religion would be out of place and
where Christ, your Master, would not be expected to come, you have not
learned to say with Ephraim, "What have I to do any more with idols?"
Run away from anything which has the least taint of sin and may God
help you to do so even to the end! Is this in order that you may be
saved? God forbid! I am only speaking to you who are saved already!

If you are not saved, the first thing is to have a renewed heart by
faith in Jesus Christ! And after that we lay no bondage on you and
exact no tax from you by way of duty–but it will be your joy, your
delight, your privilege–to keep near to your Master and to say, "What
have I to do any more with idols?" God bless you for Christ's sake!
Amen.
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