The Operation of God's Wrath in the World (3): Man's Foolish Descent Into Idolatry (Romans 1:21-23) by Rev. Martyn McGeown
I. The Folly of Idolatry
II. The Reason for Idolatry
III. The Deliverance From Idolatry
R. C. H. Lenski on Romans 1:23: “God made man in the divine image; but when man lost that image he made God like his sinful self, yea, like the lower and the lowest creatures, and as their worshipper put himself beneath them. Although he was intended to worship God in his everlasting power and divinity and to derive eternal blessings from that worship he descended to a worship of mere creature likenesses made of gold, silver, or stone …”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Look at the tendency almost to deify great men. I am not sure that we are not partly guilty of it in this country, as if they were gods and could do no wrong. Leader worship: is that wisdom? Oh, they think it is very insulting to ask them to bow down before God, and yet they will worship men and women. We read about the so-called ‘fans’ that people have in various professions. I shall never forget reading in a newspaper, some years ago, of the death of a famous film star and of how a number of women, when they heard of it, literally fainted! Is it wisdom? They will stand for hours to see these people; they will sit up all night. It is insulting to give time to God, but this is all right … Indeed, there is no question about it that there are many people in the world today who are worshipping animals. They talk about them as if they were human beings. They will not go away without them. They are worried about them. They live for them and when the animal dies, they are lost; they do not know what to do. I am not romancing; these things are facts. Professing themselves to be wise, they dismiss the God of heaven, the glorious, everlasting Being, and this is what they do instead” (Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 1, The Gospel of God, p. 389).