"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 7

This is the seventh and final segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

III. The Work that is still before us: "Keep yourselves", "Guard yourselves"

1. There is a process of purging that is still to be done in our hearts. We need to relentlessly and rigorously be on watch for idols. We need to dig down into the depths of our hearts and confess the idols that we have in secret there. We need to stand sentry at the wall of our hearts, and be vigilant to protect it that no foreign power may enter in there. There is guarding to be done. We need to keep ourselves from idols.

2. The way we guard is by the gospel, by learning to cherish God's mercy to us more and more, so that we love him with more and more of our heart. The way we guard is by contemplating the saving power of God: all his excellence, all his greatness, all his love. In other words, we guard our hearts from idols not by the idol of self-righteousness, not by puffing up the idol of pride in our heart, but by exalting Jesus for all that he has done for us. We guard our hearts by the gospel.

3. The truth is "the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof"; everything in the world is owned by Jesus. There's nothing any of your idols can offer you that exceeds or even comes close to matching all that the Lord can give you. Jesus has conquered all the principalities and powers and they all must one day answer to him. And he is going to come again to restore all that is truly good and worthwhile in this world, and all of it is going to be the inheritance of the children of God. So why, why, why would you keep pursuing your idols? They have nothing to offer you but lies. They are empty, they are vain things, with no power to save. Why would you serve them when you could serve one who is mighty to save?

And so John's exhortation stands for us as one that is very timely, very suited to our dilemma, and very instructive about how to live in a culture such as ours. May we heed it on this day, smashing our idols for the glory of worshiping the Victorious Christ.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."