In the first half of chapter 44 Isaiah talked about what God is like. The real God is the first and the last. In other words God is eternal and He can “foretell what will come.” (7) Also God is “Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty.” (6) In other words, God revealed himself through Jesus Christ. God is the Creator God, the trinity. Apart from Him “there is no God.” (6) There is no other God besides Him. “There is no other Rock.” (8) We can depend upon Him. Apart from Him “there is no God.” (6) All other gods are all worthless. In today’s passage Isaiah is teaching what idols are like and also what will happen if we depend upon idols.

I. Why make idols? (Vs. 9-11)
First please look at verses 9 to 11. “All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame,
Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit nothing?
He and his kind will be put to shame;
such craftsmen are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and shame. Here it says, “All who make idols are nothing.” (9) That is because they “are worthless”. (9) They “are blind; they are ignorant.” (9) The Psalms say the same thing. “But their idols are silver and god,
made by humans hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
Eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them,
And so will all who trust in them.”

Even though idols have eyes, they “cannot see.” (5) “They have ears, but cannot hear,” (6) “They have mouths, but cannot speak.” (5) They have “noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel。” (6) They have “feet, but cannot walk.” (6) What this means is there is no meaning in making such things and worshipping them. There is completely no meaning. Such idols “are worthless” (9) and “profit nothing”. (10)
Originally the word “idol” meant “a carved object”. It was nothing more than to make a carving of something that man imagined himself into a concrete form. The reason that man carved out something that he imagined was because such things were easy to worship.
For example, in Exodus Moses climbed Mt. Zion to receive the 10 commandments. When Moses took a long time coming down off the mountain, the Israelites came to Aaron and said, “Come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”(Exodus 32:1)
What the Israelites didn’t like was that Moses didn’t show them God. He didn’t show them the god “who will go before” (Exodus 32:1) them. Therefore, they approached Aaron and asked Aaron to make them ”gods who will go before” (Exodus 32:1) them and lead them. Aaron too feared what the Israelites might do the way they were. Therefore, he told them to take off their earrings and to bring them to him. Then he made them into a golden calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:4) Aaron tried to meet the needs of the Israelites by doing this. In other words, they made an idol to meet their needs and worshipped it.
In other words, idol worship is to make the desires of our heart into a form. The materialization of man’s cravings is an idol. This isn’t necessarily just worshipping things in the form of man or animals.
Open your Bibles to Col. 3:5.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Col. 3:5)
Here this is saying that when we allow our earthly nature to take over and are involved in “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed” (Col. 3:5) that is idol worship. To not “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Col. 3:5) and to allow our earthly nature to take on a concrete form is to worship it.
Therefore this is not just a problem for unbelievers. Us, Christians, must be on the outlook too. Therefore, the Apostle John wrote the following in his letter. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” (I John 5:21) “Children” (I John 5:21) are Christians. Christians too are tempted to worship idols so John sent this letter telling us not to fall to such things.
Man all have desires for something. That is mankind. There is no one that doesn’t have desires. Martin Luther said, “Man has either God or an idol.” It doesn’t have a name of god attached to it. That means that all men are a being that have some kind of god that they bow to. Without it they can’t live. Even people that say that they don’t believe in god, in reality, they have some god that they believe in and are worshipping. Even among those that say that they don’t believe in idols, some desperately worship money (mammonism) or believe that science is absolute, or if they have musical talent then they give their life to music, etc. That becomes that person’s god. In ever age, every culture, every generation, everyone has some god.
A characteristic of communism is said to be that there is no god. However, even in communism a god exists. The dictator is an idol that exists. Therefore, look at the Kim II-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. There is a great idol there. There are great golden statues of Kim II-sung and Kim Jong-II standing there. It is a country with no gods, but they have become their gods. Man always has gods or idols. In every age, in every culture, where ever man exists idols always exist. Therefore, we must watch out and be careful about idols.
Are you making other things than the real God your god? The 10 commandments are recorded in Exodus 20. The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me.“ (20:3) If there is something that you put before God, or something that you think about before God, then that is your idol. If you put your job before God, if you but your family, car, health, sports, hobbies, studying, school, etc. on a higher priority than God, that is your idol. We must watch out and be careful about idols.

II. What happens when we worship idols? (Vs. 12-17)
Next please look at verses 12 to 17. Verses 12 and 13 say, “The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.”
Here it tells us who makes the idols. They are men who when they get hungry they lose their strength and when they don’t drink any water, they grow faint. Men who are weak like this make the idols. The completed object is beautiful and it is displayed in the temple, but it was designed and made by the hands of humans that have to have food and water to live. That is what idols are. It is strange in the first place to think that man could make an omniscient and omnipotent god.

Then verses 14 to 17 say, “He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
‘Ah! I am warm; I see the fire’
From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
‘Save me! You are my god!’”
Here it says what the idols are made of. That is cedar or “cypress or oak” (14) that man had planted and grew. “It is used as fuel for burning (15) and fuel for cooking. However, he also uses it to fashion “a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.” (15) “Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal…He also warms himself…From the rest he makes a god, his idol.” (16,17) In other words, what is left over is used for god. Then “he bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Save me!” (17) Can such a thing save?
Before I used to be a prison chaplain at the Fukushima prison. A prison chaplain to respond to the needs of those who are imprisoned talks according to the teachings of his faith. I too once a month went to the prison and talked about the Bible. A person that came to hear the talks came to visit after a long time of not seeing him. This person was before going into the prison and ever since he got out of the prison has always been a part of the Yakuza world. However, his heart is very genuine, and simple and he hates crooked and wicked things. He does a lot of crooked and wicked things himself, but he hates crooked and wicked things! We are the same age so sometime he calls, but the other day he had to go from Tokyo to Sendai so he wanted to see me on the way so he dropped by.
He said, “It’s about time for me to leave the Yakuza” For a person who has been in the Yakuza world to say, “It’s about time to leave.” Is a good thing, but I thought it was strange so I asked him what he meant. Recently the world of the yakuza has changed. In other words, those who move up are only those with money. Therefore, even the young people who under him now he doesn’t know when the position will be reversed. Therefore, now he is being very careful about how he is talking. He is talking polite even to those under him. In the past it wasn’t like that. It was based upon “duty” (“giri”) so that those who were under you showed respect, but that is changing. Now there are times when the first becomes last and the last becomes first. In the Christian world the person who is in the front is expected to be more humble. However, in the Yakuza world the person’s position is absolute. Therefore, he doesn’t know when he is going to move down on the ladder so he can’t continue this life forever. “It’s about time to leave.” To have given his life for the group and now to say, “It’s about time to leave,” I can’t understand for what reason he has given his life for up until now for. His boss (oyabun) has been wrong. Only Jesus is the boss (oyabun). If you give your life for anything else, you will be deceived.
That is not just him. The world when it’s necessary will not help you. In our lives there are always troubles. Jesus too said that in this world there will be tribulations. At such times what are you going to depend upon? Japanese hate absolute things so when you say, “Jesus only”, they hate it. However, idols that are made from the left over fuel for burning can’t help you. It can’t save you. When you lose your health, when you fall into some huge difficulties, such things are of no use. If you worship and follow them you will be nothing. “All who make idols are nothing. (9)
That’s not all. Once more let’s look at Psalms 115:4-8. Especially verse 8 says, “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
This means that not only are “all who make idols…nothing,” (9) but “those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (Psalm 115:8) Those who make idols and worship “them will be like them.” (Psalm 115:8) For example, if you look at the appearance of people that go to baseball games often, such people look like their favorite team’s players. Those who like the Giants wear a giant’s uniform with their favorite athlete’s number on it. AKB fans look like AKB members. They put ribbons in their hair, and wear hats that look like lady bugs on their head. That is what enthusiastic fans are like. Idol fans look like the idol. They become like the idols.
However, if we believe in the real God and worship the real God and follow the real God, we will become like the real God, like Jesus. II Cor. 3:18 says, “And we with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
“We all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (II Cor. 3:18) We believe in God and have received God’s Spirit so the Holy Spirit leads us and we “are being transformed into” (II Cor. 3:18) Jesus’ likeness. If we believe in Jesus and are joined to Jesus, we will become like Jesus. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23) so we will transformed into a person with this kind of nature. Things that we couldn’t do up until now, we will be able to do. By the power of the Holy Spirit people that we haven’t been able to forgive up until now, we will be able to forgive too. People that we haven’t loved, we will be able to love. That is the work of the Spirit of the Lord. If you believe in Jesus and are joined to Jesus, then you will become a person like Jesus.
I have been surprised because sometimes I am told by other people that I look like my wife. In what ways do we look alike! Japanese & American, Black hair & blonde hair (recently a little white), black eyes and blue eyes, Japanese and English, movement is the tortoise and the hare, etc. In what ways do we look alike! Of course, on the outside we don’t look alike at all. However, the insides without realizing it become alike. The ways of thinking, the ways of talking, etc. That is because we are always fellowshipping together.
Come to think of it I heard an assistant pastor talk. I was surprised because the way he talked was like the pastor talked. Before he didn’t talk like that so I thought when you are together for years with someone you talk alike.
Depending upon who a person fellowships with he becomes like the person. A person who believes in the real God, worships the real God, fellowships with real God will become like the real God. He will be “transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (II Cor. 3:18) What grace! If we miss the chance, we will lose wonderful blessings.
We know why it is important to worship the Lord on Sunday. That is because if we worship the Lord, fellowship with the Lord, and follow the Lord, we will become like the Lord. Of course, that is not just Sunday worship. It is everyday worship. It is how much you daily worship God and fellowship with God. If you are fellowshipping with God, just as the Bible says, you should want to worship with your spiritual family which has received God’s Holy Spirit. That is because it is the work of the Spirit. It is just as it is written, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (Exodus 20:5) It is the will of God that we seek God himself, worship God and put God first.

III. How can we be set free from idols? (Vs. 18-20)
Lastly, let’s look at how we can be set free from vain idols. Please look at verses 18 to 20. “They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think
no one has the knowledge of understanding to say,
‘Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?’
He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’”
If a person that worships idols, thought about it calmly, he would know it is strange, but he is attracted to the idol’s beauty, power, and mysticism. He is so spiritually paralyzed that he doesn’t realize that it is an idol. Such people are easily blinded by things that will fulfill their desires. Just like idols “have mouths, but cannot speak, Eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear.” (Psalms115:5-6) Their minds are “closed so they cannot understand.” (18) What they must do is check what they are doing with the Word of God. Not by our own thinking and judgment, but by daily fellowshipping with God and receiving God’s strength and knowing God’s will we will be able to return to God from idols.
Please open your Bibles to I Samuel chapter 5. I will read verses 1 to 5. Here “the Philistines had captured the ark of God…Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.” (I Samuel 5:1,2) Dagon had a fish　head and is considered to be a fish god, but became connected with grain. Therefore, it was worshipped both as a fish god and a grain god. Israel’s ark of God was carried into and put in Dagon’s temple. “When the people…rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.” (I Samuel 5:3,4) Therefore they were afraid of the ark of the covenant and returned it to Israel.
What this ark of the covenant symbolizes is God’s presence. In other words, when God is present, idols fall. Idols are so tempting that by your own strength you can’t knock them down. However. By God’s presence idols naturally fall. To fight the forces of darkness, you have to switch on the light. If you light the lantern, the darkness will naturally go away. In the same way, you need to carry God’s glorious presence into your temple of Dagon. If so, Dagon will lose his strength and will naturally fall. You will be set free from idols which are nothing and you will be set free from bad habits not by trying desperately to get rid of the idols, but by you carrying God’s glorious presence into your temple of Dagon. Everyday open your Bible, praise God, pray, and if God is living in your heart, if you are putting God first, then you will be set free from idols, and

you will be filled with the presence of the living God. However, if you put off doing so, and attach little weight to it, and put other things before God, Dagon will stand up and before you and block your way.
What is your Dagon? The thing that is the most important to you in your life is your Dagon. If you follow this Dagon, you will never be set free from this life of “nothing”. (10) “You shall have no other gods before me.“ (20:3) Let’s put God first in our lives. Let’s seek God’s presence. If so, you will be set free from idols which are nothing, and can live a life of meaning. God through Christ redeemed you and saved you from sin for that purpose.