Turn to Exodus the 20th chapter as we delve into the Word of God with this sermon, "The Fatal Attraction".
Consider the barrage of benefits to America if we would obey the Ten Commandments. Overnight, this nation would be completely different. We would be honoring the God of the Bible and obeying His Word. We would be in church every Sunday, every Wednesday night, and anytime the doors are open for service.
We would respect Spiritual Authority of God's Word. We wouldn't be murdering in each other in the streets, in their homes, in our schools and grocery stores. There would be no adultery. Husbands and wives wouldn't be having extramarital affairs. They wouldn't be watching pornography, looking at pornographic magazines. They wouldn't be going out to strip joints. They wouldn't be online flirting with other people. No. They would be honoring their vows and keeping their marriage bed sacred. No one would lie. People wouldn't be gossiping about people. They wouldn't be talking about people behind their back. They wouldn't be telling tall tales about something that just isn't true about someone. There would be no theft. People wouldn't be going around stealing from others. They wouldn't be robbing banks and gas stations. They wouldn't be taking what does not belong to them. There would be no cheating. People wouldn't be cheating on their boyfriends or girlfriends. They wouldn't be cheating in any way, shape or form, just to get more than they should. There would be no envy. Envy leads to jealousy. Jealousy leads to contempt. And it will destroy relationships. It will destroy friendships. It will ruin lives. And it will always lead to more than you bargained for. That I can promise you! There would be no coveting.
America would be transformed overnight. Politicians would be honorable men and women. They wouldn't be lying, manipulative thieves who are only out for the "Almighty Dollar" There would be no criminal crisis like we have. There would be no school shootings. No shootings in the grocery stores, the shopping malls, or even sporting and concert events. People would actually get along and make the world a better place, if they would just embrace the 10 Commandments and live by them every day of their lives. There would be no burning down of our cities by anarchists.
There would be no abortions. There would be no one telling a lie in the court of law. There would be no sex trafficking that's destroying the lives of 75,000 girls a year! No schools would be teaching the critical race theory. No one would be bowing to the demands of corrupt politicians because the nation would become pure before the throne of God! The churches would be filled on Sunday morning with people worshiping the Lord. Think about it. Have you ever considered the riches of righteousness? Yet, that phrase in your brain, "the riches of righteousness", immediately makes one think about money.
The Bible says, "righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." And that includes America! Right now, we are in a fierce cultural war for the soul of this nation! It's a war between those who embrace biblical values, and those who want America to become a secular progressive socialistic Godless country! And one of those forces are going to win! The prize goes to the winner of our children and the next generation!
People say The Ten Commandments are an in the Old Testament. It really doesn't apply to a sophisticated country like us. Let me tell you something, we're not sophisticated! We're not sophisticated by any means! We're not even spiritual! The law of the Lord is perfect! Say that with me, "The law of the Lord is perfect!" And for those of you who want to hear that in the New Testament, Jesus says it this way in Matthew 5:17; He said, "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law. I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law." Listen. "But whoever does and teaches these Commandments shall be called great in the kingdom of God."
How many of you would like to be called great in the Kingdom of God, by God Himself? Then do and teach these Commandments to your children. Get in the Word and let what God has established in the scripture cause this nation to have a spiritual reformation.
Exodus 20 verse 4. Read with me. "And you shall not make for yourselves a carved image any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above or that it is in the earth beneath or that is in the water underneath the Earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. But showing Mercy to thousands to those who love Me and keep my Commandments."
God says those who do not love Him who have images they worship receive His judgment for four generations. Which is 200 years. God is a jealous God, and He wants you simply to love His Son and to obey His Word. Let's pray. "Father, in the authority of Jesus Name, let us today hear God's command and let it change us to be Godly righteous Christians in these United States in a time when our nation so desperately needs it. In the authority of Jesus Name we pray." And all of God's children said amen.
What is a fatal attraction? A fatal attraction is that which in the beginning seems attractive and irresistible, but in the end, it will totally destroy you. I saw a squirrel once, on the trunk of a tree that was slanted, and the little squirrel was frantically squawking at something that was at the base of the tree. I looked closer, and it was a rattlesnake moving slowly from side to side, hypnotically seducing that squirrel. The squirrel was fascinated, and each time would get just a little closer and just a little closer and just as that squirrel got just a little too close, like lightning, the rattlesnake struck! It sank its venomous fangs deep into its flesh and the life of the squirrel was lost. Killed by a fatal attraction. And today, we want to shoot the rattlesnakes in your life!
The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt's bondage by ten dazzling miracles from the mighty right hand of Jehovah God. They went through the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, where Moses went face to face with God to receive these Ten Commandments. Moses had been gone into the mountain to be with God for 40 days, and Israel yielded to a fatal attraction. They had lived for 400 years in a nation filled with dozens of idols. They allowed their past to control their future, are you?
Don't allow your past to control your present or your future. Paul said, "forgetting those things which are past, I press toward the prize of the high calling which is in Jesus Christ." At Sinai, while Moses is on the mountain meeting with God, Aaron crafted a golden bull for the children of Israel to worship. While Moses was gone, the bull was the Egyptian god of sexual power. The result is when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the children of Israel were having a massive sex orgy in the desert! Just living proof when the preacher leaves town all hell breaks loose.
The point being what you what you worship will control you. That sexual spirit swept through the camp of Israel. That demonic power was a satanic fatal attraction. God buried thousands of Jewish people alive in an earthquake to demonstrate His fury. God will not tolerate this! Worshiping an idol is spiritual adultery and it brings the Judgment of God swiftly and in spades for generations to come! Having an idol in your home give Satan a license to have a presence in your home. In history, Pharaoh ruled Egypt with a symbol of a serpent in his crown. The Bible says that old serpent, the devil.
An idol in your home, in God's opinion, is a very dangerous thing! It can become a fatal attraction! A true story of a man and his wife, devoted Christians, purchased a very expensive doll that had a coiled black snake mounted on it. Both testified that the image of the black snake brought in a strange presence into their home that had never existed before. One morning, they found a LIVING black snake that had crawled into their home, located this image and wrapped itself around that doll. They killed that snake and through the image and the dead snake into the trash and set it on fire! They both testified that the strange presence left their house. The question is, what idols do you have in your home that invite the Prince of Darkness to rule your home?
Remember a fatal attraction looks good in the beginning, but it destroys you in the end. Do you have a sexual relationship in your life that's outside of marriage? Stop it! Break it off or get married! Because that's God's law. You will never prosper until you obey the law of God. And I've had young people look me in the eye and say, "Well, we're just trying to get to know each other." That's what you do after you say, "I do".
Is your fatal attraction the love of money? Listen to me, there's no sin in being mega rich. The Bible says about Abraham the father of all who believe, that means he's your spiritual father, that he was very rich with cattle, gold and silver. And those three items are still very attractive. It is a sin when you love what you have more than you love God! You can drive a 1952 Volkswagen, with the bumpers dragging in the street, and love money more than God. Listen to the story of Aiken. God told the children of Israel not to take the riches of Jericho. When that battle was over, they were to be used for His Temple. Aiken decided that he was the exception to the rule. He disobeyed the spiritual authority and it led to his destruction.
That night, he slipped from his tent into Jericho, and he took a beautiful Babylonian garment. He took 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. He slipped back through the darkness of the night from tent to tent until he found his tent. He took his bed apart, buried what he stole and put his bed over it. He put his hands behind his head and said, "I'm rich! I'm really rich! Those poor saps are keeping all the rules! But look at me now!" It's stolen from God and God saw it. The Bible has a promise, "your sin will find you out!" That's not a promise you have on your refrigerator, but it's a promise! A few days later, Israel went to battle against Ai. Ai was a little puny, insignificant nation, and Israel soldiers got wiped out. Joshua fell on his face before God and said, "Why? There's no reason why we shouldn't have won that battle!" God said, "Get up off your face and stop praying! There is sin in the camp!" So, Joshua performed a tent-by-tent search of all the tents in Israel, and when he came to the tent of the thief and found that treasure, he said that the Judgment of God must come to this family! Aiken and his wife were stoned to death. His sons and their wives were stoned to death. Even their livestock was brought and stoned to death! They were burned to ashes, the Bible says, so that God could put sin out of Israel and that's the same God that's sitting on the throne right now!
God will not tolerate His children stealing from Him! Some steal their tithe and offering. Malachi 3:8, "Will a man rob God? You have robbed Me in tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse! Do you think God would bring judgment to Aiken for stealing from Him and not bring it to you? Because He is! The Bible says God is no respecter of persons.
Is your fatal attraction power? Power corrupts! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! You only have to look at Washington D.C and know that's the truth. Are you a father who ruthlessly rules his family with an iron fist of abusive power? Does your wife cower from you? Are your children fearful of you? Does the dog hide behind the door when you come home? Stop it! Lest you become a banquet for worms! "Where do you get that?" Acts 12. Herod. Royalty. Powerful. King. He was arrayed in his royal apparel, and he sat on his throne. He gave a speech the Bible calls an oration. The people of Israel shouted, "It is the voice of a God and not a man!" Listen to that. "It is the voice of a God and not a man!" Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck Herod because he did not give God the glory and he was eaten by worms and died on the spot!" That's in your Bible!
God is a jealous God! He has not changed His opinion! He will not share His Glory with any man for any reason! The Lord's Prayer says it best, "For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever!" It is His Kingdom! It is His power! It is His glory! Not ours! Not ever! Look at what this commandment does not forbid. This commandment does not forbid works of art. For God Himself instructed the cherubim, those are angels, would overshadow the mercy seat found in the Tabernacle. Bells and pomegranates were on the borders of the garments of the high priest. Man is not forbidden to make a representation of anything. He's forbidden to use it as an instrument of worship. Get that. He is forbidden to use it as an instrument of worship! Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them. Let me make that a little clearer. It's a violation of the second commandment to bow before a statue of the Virgin Mary, Saint Peter, or Saint Paul. God will not tolerate idolatry from anyone for any reason! Not ever!
Deuteronomy 27:15, "Cursed it is anyone who makes an idol or cast an image and sets it up in secret." Man makes an idol to assist him in worship. Then they focus on the image which becomes their God. It's idolatry to have a cross around your neck, unless Christ is in your heart! So why do men make images? Men make images because they've lost communion with God. They need a statue to reduce God so they can wrap their little mind around it. The Bible says, "God is a spirit and they that worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Men make idols and attempt to cut God down to size. To assume that God is susceptible to our control is foolishness! Idolatry is our attempt to contain God and make Him manageable. Hear this. If your God is so small you can contain him on a piece of canvas or control him by a piece of statue limited to the thinking of your mind, he's not worthy of worship. If your god is that little that you can totally comprehend him, he's small. He's weak. He's powerless. There is one image we are to worship, Jesus says. Jesus Christ, Who is the image of the invisible God. Worship Him. Adore Him. Honor Him. Serve Him. Praise Him. Give Him praise! Give Him glory! He alone is worthy of praise!
The problem in the church is that we have mental images of what God can do and cannot do. Some of you have given up on your dreams because you are serving a limited God. You're living a limited life! Stop it! Stop saying, "It can't happen for me." Start saying, "The Lord Reigns, and nothing is impossible!" There is within you, a divine spark waiting to explode into its full brilliant dazzling Glory! That's in you! The Royal Blood of Heaven is flowing in your veins! You are royalty! You are sons and daughters of the Most High God! Therefore, nothing is impossible with you! Experience the joy, the excitement, and the divine rush of living life unlimited to do anything you want to!
The Bible says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." They shall fly into the highest heavens and look into the face of God! Do not give up on your dreams! Do not give up on your hopes! Do not give up on your future! Do not give up on your healing! Do not give up on your family! Do not give up on your job! The Almighty God is your Father, and you are His child! Nothing shall be impossible unto you!
If God could use a crooked stick in the hand of Moses to lead millions of people out of captivity. If He could bring water out of a rock for one million people. If He could use a donkey to preach to Balaam. That just blows my mind everytime I read it. God preached a sermon through a donkey that changed the course of history! Preachers need to remember that on Sunday morning. If He can use me, He can use you! If God tells you to go fishing for Moby Dick with nothing but a rod and reel, take the tartar sauce, something big is about to happen! Get a new vision of who you are! You are a child of the Living God! He is not a statue! He is not limited by time! He is not limited by what you can think about! He is not the great idea, He's the great God Of Heaven! He is Almighty! He's your Father! He is your Father which art in Heaven! He's looking over the balconies of Heaven right now shouting, "I LOVE YOU! I MADE YOU! I DON'T SPONSOR FLOPS! I WANT YOU TO FLY! FLY ON THE WINGS OF FAITH HIGHER, HIGHER, AND HIGHER~ LIVE YOUR LIFE WITHOUT LIMIT~ NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU!"
Faith is the daring of the soul to see further than the eye can see. Make today the first day of the rest of your life. Crucify your fear! Get rid of your doubt! Believe with all of your heart that nothing is impossible for you! God is our creator! God is greater than the mountains! He's greater than the giants! He's greater than your fears! He's greater than your handicaps! He's greater than your enemies! Put your hand in God's hand and reach for greatness! Dare to live life without limit! What is your dream? However impossible it seems, whatever the obstacle that lies between you and it, if it is noble. If it is consistent with God's purpose, lock your jaws on it! Lock down! You can do it! Go for it! Because God is your sponsor! Do not stop! Do not quit! Do not be intimidated! Make it happen! You are living life without limits! Which is the mark of a child of God. You can do this in Jesus Name! You're not limited by the image and marble, or in the mind. For nothing is impossible to those who put their trust in God!
How many of you here can say, "Pastor, I have given up on my dream. Living life without joy. I'm bound by self-imposed limitations." If that describes you, I want to pray with you today. Are there idols in your home? Statues, Ouija boards, tarot cards, occultic literature? That's idolatrous! Get rid of it! Get rid of it! You want something to read, open John 3:16 and read that.
Lift your hands toward God and pray this prayer.
"Heavenly Father, we approach Your Holy Throne, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm asking you today that the Blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanses from all sin, would cleanse us all and make us pure in Your sight. That we give up our dreams that are founded on nothing. But bind us to the loving God. To fulfill His dream for our life. That we live our life with confidence and accomplishment. Limited to nothing. For nothing shall be impossible to those that believe and are called according to the purposes of God. In Jesus Name. And all of God's children said, "AMEN!"
