I’m aware of people making comments and different things, “How many times are we going to hear this message?”  Well, I’ll tell you how many times.  Until we do it; amen?  If we are not doers, James says, we are hearers and self-deceived.  We can’t sit here and say, “Amen,” to the Word of God and then not do it.  There is no greater darkness than self-deception.  So, they came in and taught all this doctrine and I’m sure everyone “amened” it.  Then, it goes on to say in verse 29, “…howbeit every nation made gods of their own.”  That’s classic, that’s what fallen man does.  If you’ve ever been to Rome, or get a chance to go there, make sure you get down to the Pantheon, fabulous structure, at one time it was the largest dome in the world.  It has a big hole in the middle, kind of like Dallas Stadium.  I won’t correlate the two—oh yeah, they are both full of idols.  In that particular temple, you see, Christianity in the beginning was not a problem.  Rome didn’t have a problem, they were polytheistic, what’s the problem with adding one more god; amen?  Jesus, God Almighty, Jehovah is not one of the crowd; amen?

Now, remember what caused Rome to turn on Christians.  It wasn’t the doctrine that they were initially teaching, it wasn’t the fact that they were making proselytes to Christianity, because in the mind of the Romans they are just adding one more god.  But, when they would not bow and recognize Caesar as god, that’s when all hell broke loose.  When you and I refuse to bow to Caesar, all hell is going to break loose.  When we begin to be those people who say there are no other gods but Jesus, there is no other God but the great El Shaddai, the God that we serve and recognize Him, Jehovah and His attributes, Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our peace, Jehovah-tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord our provider.  We could go on and on with the redemptive names of Jehovah.  “Who shall I say sent me?”  “I AM THAT I AM has sent you.”  Amen?  There are no other Gods!

Here we are in the twenty-first century and there are still people in this world that are hand-carving gods and bowing down to them, and those that we don’t hand-carve, we raise up in our stadiums, and on the silver screen and on Wall Street.  We’re mesmerized by all the wealth and power.  Remember the sin of Sodom was not sodomy.  Sodomy was the consequence of the sin of Sodom which was pride, self-will, idleness and wealth.  Sound familiar?  How do we, then, relate to all of these as Christians?  Come out from among them, touch not the unclean thing and remove all the sins and the weights that so easily beset us; amen?  Let us love one another.  Dear God, if we need to grab one another and shake them to help us see, each of us, what condition we are in in this hour and whether or not we’ll stand.

As we read on in this chapter, it continues and it says in verse 32, “So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests….”  Well, at least I know I’m qualified for that job.  Now, we’re not talking here about Paul’s humility where he says, “I’m the chief of sinners.”  This was really the lowest of them.  In the Roman Church, the Catholic Church, the biggest perverts were the priests.  I’ll talk about perversion not just from the perspective of sexuality, although that was the case, but can I share something with you?  Celibacy doesn’t work.  That’s why there are so many verses—have you ever noticed how many verses there are about adultery, fornication and lasciviousness?  Because “…in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.”  The natural mind, the natural thought of a man, I don’t know how people make the observations and, supposedly, science says—I’m going to really understate this—but men think about sex every five minutes.  Now, I know what the research says.  There’s something in fallen man, this perversion of his “specialness,” his place of supremacy, that makes him think every woman should carry his seed.  Have you ever wondered why men are so horny?  It’s not chemical, it’s spiritual.  It’s that fallen nature of wanting, all of these thoughts, all of these vanities, all of these different acts that take place is a man fulfilling his perspective of himself as supreme.  “I deserve it and the world needs more of me.”  Dear God, one of us is enough; amen?

That thing that was meant for good, that innate drive that would cause the reproduction and replenishing of the earth, once sin manifested itself, became perverted and became all about promoting self.  Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife, get your own.  Why would you do that?  What would cause a man like David, who could have anything he wanted, to see that one young lady, as the prophet described it, this little lamb, and you would go down there and defile this woman.  One of your most faithful men and the lust of your heart takes over your mind and you not only commit adultery, but end up committing the murder of one of your most faithful men because you’re so deserving, because you’re taking ease and comfort.  The Bible says very clearly at that time, it was a time that the king should be at war.  He should’ve been out fighting and instead he was lounging and rewarding himself.  Beloved, we’re living in a day of spiritual warfare, and this is not a time to be lounging, this is a time where we are in the foxholes.