Are You Serving Other Gods?

[Christsfreeservant]

Solomon, and all who assisted him, had just completed the building of the Temple of God (Old Testament). And then the Lord spoke to him, and he told him that if he (God) brought on his people a number of disastrous events, if his people, who were called by his name, would humble themselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, then he would hear from heaven, he would forgive their sin, and he would heal their land.

“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’” (2 Chronicles 7:19-22 NASB1995)​

Now, this is Old Testament, so these exact words, in full, are not for us today. However, there are things taught here that are repeated for us in the New Testament, under the New Covenant God has with his people Israel (Jew and Gentile) who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. And, under the New Covenant, the Temple of God is not a physical building, but it is us who are following Jesus Christ with our lives in walks of obedience to our Lord, in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives.

For what we are taught in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ gave himself up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded and God-honoring faith in the Lord, we will now die with him to sin and now walk with him in obedience to his commands in holy living. And we will have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God, but provided that sin is no longer what we practice and that we continue in those walks of faith in obedience to our Lord to the end.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Matthew 10:22; Luke 9:23-26; John 8:31-32; John 10:27-30; John 15:1-12; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-24; Romans 11:17-24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Galatians 5:16-24; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5,9; 2 Peter 1:5-11; 1 John 2:24-25]

But if we turn away from God’s plan of salvation for our lives, which is to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands, and we choose to go our own path, instead, serving the gods of the flesh and of sinful pleasure, and that is the path we remain on until the end, then we will not have eternal life with God. Instead, we will face the wrath of God because we would not bow the knee to our Lord in humble surrender to his will and purpose for our lives.

And if the church, by the majority, decides to go their own way, and to chart their own path, and to recreate the gospel message to make it more appealing and appeasing to human flesh, and less offensive to the ungodly, and they become followers of man, and not followers of God, and so they turn their gatherings into “houses of trade” or “places of business,” in order to attract the world to their gatherings, they will be judged by God for their rebellion against him and for partnering with the ungodly of this world.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2-3; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

So, different times, and different circumstances, but basically the same message, Old Testament and New Testament. For God’s whole purpose in creating us, and in calling us to faith in him, is that we will surrender our lives to him, deny self, die with him to sin, and now follow him in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living, so as to be pleasing to our Lord. And that we will be his witnesses in sharing the message of the gospel with other people, but the biblical gospel, not the man-made gospels.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

O God, Our Help in Ages Past

By Isaac Watts, 1719, and William Croft, 1708

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

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