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II KINGS 17

IDOLATRY - ITS CAUSES & CURE

Intro: The nation Israel is no more  cities destroyed; men murdered;
       women ravished;  remainder taken captive why? Idolatry.
       Idol - "that upon which the affections are  passionately set."
       Covetousness which is idolatry.

I. IDOLATRY - ITS CAUSE.
        A. "God has made man subject unto emptiness."
                1. Man's attempt to fill that emptiness.
        B. Difficulty of worshipping the invisible.
                1. Missouri adage "show me."
        C. Loss of consciousness of God.
                1. We hold to relics or reminders of better days.
                        a. Hezekiah - brass serpent.
                2. A vacuum cannot exist in nature - seek to fill.
                        a. take God out of the center of man's life
                           create vacuum the  man will replace - God with
                           idol.
        D. Idol shows desire to regain that which was lost.
        E. Disobedience to word of God  vs. 13.

II. IF IDOLATRY A NATURAL PENCHANT OF MAN, WHY FORBIDDEN?
        A. God is limitless.
                1. The minute you create an idol, defined boundaries.
        B. God's infinite nature fefies visible representation.
                1. His omnipresence.

IlI. THE RESULTS OF IDOLATRY.
        A. Limited concepts of God.
                1. He cannot see everywhere.
                2. He cannot reach everywhere.
        B. False concepts of God.
                1. I can hide.
                2. I can escape the judgment.
        C. Eventual slavery - Israel went into captivity.
                1. "I am free to do as I please."
                2. To exercise that freedom the wrong way will lead to
                   captivity.
                        a. Extreme illustration - taking heroin.
                        b. I become a slave to my idol.
        It demands my time.
        It drains my finances.
        It saps my energies.

IV. ITS CURE.
        A. A renewed experience with God.
                1. Because a part of the cause is the loss of
                   consciousness, the cure  is in a renewed consciousness.
                        a. Paul on Mars hill "In Him we live, we move, we
                           have our  being.
                2. Let Christ sit on the throne of your life.
        B. Give heed to God's word.
        How can you go on another day in sin thinking someday with Christ
        you will  begin - O will you hear above the world's loud din,
        God's final call, God's final  call.