In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the importance of standing up for righteousness in a fallen world. He uses the example of Daniel from the book of Daniel in the Bible, who took a stand for God even when it could have cost him his life. Pastor Chuck encourages young adults between the ages of 12 and 20 to resist compromise and prepare for the Lord's coming. He emphasizes the need for worship and warns against worshiping false gods.

Welcome to The Word for Today. The Word for Today is a continuous study of the Bible, taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament, and for those of you following along in your Bibles, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning with verse 12, as we continue with a topical message entitled, Ungodly Ambitions. 1. One thing is needful, O my Father, One thing is needful, O my God, That I sit at your feet and pour out my love. This thing is needful, O my God. And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck. When, in the beginning, God created man, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. I am certain that we do not fully understand all of the implications of being made in the image of God and after His likeness. We so often think of it in the terms of physical, but I think that it is probably much more true in the realms of the spiritual. Made in the image of God. You see, God's chief moral characteristic is His self-determination. God is a self-determinate being. And when He created man in His image, He created man with the capacity of choice, and thus man became a self-determinate being, made in the image of God. I can choose my destiny. When He created man, because God's chief emotional attribute is that of love, He created man with the capacity to love. God desires to be worshipped, and created in the image of God, man desires to be worshipped. We see this inclination manifested very early, for little children are constantly saying, watch me daddy, watch me. And then they do some feat that perhaps is daring, and we say, my, that's wonderful. You jumped all the way from the top step. Isn't that great? And they say, I'll do it again, I'll do it again. Watch me, watch me. And they love to be noticed. They love to be complimented. They love to be worshipped. In a sense. To be told how brave they are, how big they are, how wonderful they are. Man was created with the capacity to worship. Now let me rephrase that. Man was created with the necessity to worship. I am driven to worship. I will worship something. If I do not worship the true and the living God, I will worship something. And whatever is that chief object of worship in my life, does become my God. Now, the Greeks and the Babylonians and the Romans, they named these objects of worship. They gave these gods names. And the person who worshipped himself was worshipping the god Narcissus. The god of self-worship, who was always going around looking in the pools, admiring himself and all. And thus, the narcissism, the self-worship. Now, the Bible recognizes that there are many gods. God said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Whatever it is in our lives that is important to us, is all right as long as it doesn't take precedence over God in our lives. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He is to be first and foremost in your life, as far as your attention, your adoration, your worship. Now, when God created angels, he evidently created angels in his image and after his likeness, because we know that angels were created as self-determinant beings. And being self-determinant beings, Satan, one of the brightest angels, in fact, his name Lucifer means son of the morning, decided that he was going to exalt his position, his place. And in Isaiah 14, we read the five I wills that have to do with his seeking to exalt himself into the God state. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be like the Most High. The desire to be like God can be a good desire or an evil desire. There's the upside to it and there's the downside to it. And every child of God, true child of God, has that longing and desire to be like the Father. It is my prayer that the Spirit of God might work in my life to conform me into the image of Jesus Christ. That's the longing of my heart. That's the prayer of my heart. Now being created in the image of God, man fell from that image. But there is the desire in the heart of the believer to be restored into the image of God that I might be like him. And God has given to us the Holy Spirit for the very purpose of conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. And like David, I will be satisfied when I awake in his likeness. John tells us, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It doesn't yet appear what we're going to be, but we know that when he appears, we're going to be like him for we shall see him as he is. And he speaks about everyone that has this hope in him. And thus we have this hope in us of being like God. That's the upside. The downside is what is demonstrated here by Satan. That desire to exalt self and to make myself God. Looking at myself as God for the purpose of being worshipped and adored as God. And so Satan said, I will exalt my throne. I will be like the Most High in the exalting of himself into the God state, declaring I am God. And we are told that in the final throes of man's failing governments that the Antichrist will stand in the temple of God, showing that he is God and demanding to be worshipped as God. This declaration of man that he is God is something that originated here in Isaiah with Satan, but has been something that has been promulgated by Satan throughout history. For when man was created and placed in the Garden of Eden and given such tremendous liberty, only one restriction, he was not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. And Satan came to Eve and he said, Can you eat of all of the trees that are here in the garden? She said, Yes, all except that one there in the middle. And God told us we're not to eat of that, for we would die. And Satan said, Oh, you wouldn't die. But you see, God knows that if you eat of the fruit of that tree, you're going to be like God. Knowing good from evil. And this desire to be God, to be like God, was the thing that Satan used to trip up Eve and Adam and caused the fall. Even as it says in our text, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? What perpetrated his fall? His declaration, I will be like God. And yet he said, You'll be brought down to hell. And it's the thing with man, in that you'll be like God, you'll be God. And in that desire, the exalting of self to the God state, it brought the fall of man. There's a pastor of a very large Pentecostal church, who had his congregation say, I am an exact duplicate of God. He said, No, say it louder, with more meaning. And the congregation said, I am an exact duplicate of God. No, no, louder, until he had them all shouting and chanting, I'm an exact duplicate of God. And then he said, When God looks in the mirror, he sees me. And when I look in the mirror, I see God. How can men get so confused? You go back to the origin of it, and it's found in Isaiah chapter 14, where Satan said, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High. I will be God. What does God say about this? Turn to Isaiah 43, verse 10. Just the last phrase. Before me, there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Turn over to 44.6. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I am the last, and beside me there is no God. 45, verse 5. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. Verse 22. Look unto me, and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. I hate to disappoint you, but God said there are no other gods. I know not any. So you may be confessing to be God, but he doesn't know you. He doesn't know of any other gods. How can people be so deceived? The Mormons and the TV evangelist will point you to the Scripture in John chapter 10, where Jesus was talking with the Jews and declared unto them, I and the Father are one. They took up stones to stone him. And Jesus said, I've done a lot of good works. For which of these good works are you going to stone me? And they said, not for your good works, but because you being a man are constantly saying that you are the Son of God, making yourself equal with God. And Jesus answered them and said, is it not written in your law that I said that you are gods? And if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, then why do you say of him whom the Father has sanctified, that you blaspheme, because I said that I am the Son of God? Now, Jesus is referring to the law of Moses in which God said, you are gods. And they will usually then cross-reference back to Psalm 82, where this same passage out of the law is quoted. And in Psalm 82,5 or 6 rather, the Lord speaking through the psalmist Asaph said, I have said you are gods. And all of you are children of the Most High. It's too bad they don't read the next verse. But you shall die like men. You're not God because you're going to die like men. Then where did God say ye are gods, and what is it talking about? You have to go back to Exodus chapter 22, the reference that Jesus was making to in his statement as he said in the law. He didn't say in the Psalms I said ye are gods, but in the law it was said. And the situation involves the seeking to discern the truth of a matter in judgment. Let us say that I was going to be going away for a while, and I had a very expensive dog. And I asked you to watch my dog for me while I was gone. Would you mind keeping him? And so I entrust my dog into your care. When I get back, you say, oh Chuck, your dog jumped the fence and ran away. And I look at the fence and I realize it's higher than my dog can jump. And I begin to question your story. And I begin to look around, and I find my dog. And I say, hey, that's my dog. And the fellow says, no, no, I bought this dog, and he's mine. Well, who'd you buy him from? Oh, from the fellow up the street there. So it says you bring your case to the judges that they might determine. He's saying, no, no, it ran away. It's my dog. I bought him. You say, now whose dog does it belong to? So it says you come to the judges to see whether your neighbor put his hand to your dog. For in all manner of trespasses, whether they be for an ox or a donkey or a sheep or for clothes or for any manner of lost thing, which another challenges to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn, he will have to pay double unto his neighbor. Now the word translated judges there in Hebrew is Elohim, which is the Hebrew word for gods. So in saying that you're gods, he is talking about the judges who would give forth the judgment in the discerning of the truth of a matter. And they then speak as gods. In other words, their word becomes as God's word. Their decisions become final, and having then the control over the issue, placing the issues in their hands for their control, they become as a god in the issue in that their word stands. And that is why they were referred to as gods, but correctly translated here, judges. It is the Hebrew word Elohim, which is God's plural, where as we read in Psalm, the gods of the heathen are many, the idols that they've made. There are many gods, plural, little g. And they are to come before the gods. But it's not saying that you are God. All you need to discover is the God within you. And so we have people today that are saying, you are gods. All you have to do is discover that God nature within you. You can come into the consciousness of the universal consciousness. You can come into the God consciousness. You can go through a transition, an evolutionary kind of a transition into the God state, and you become God. You can have power. Your words can have power, creative force of your words. And you can create your own reality. Just by speaking the word of faith, you can become gods, you see. You are gods, and you can speak these things into existence and create your own reality. And it's all a farce. It's all predicated upon a false interpretation of the scripture. And it all originates back with Lucifer, son of the morning, who sought to exalt himself and say, I will be like the Most High. So the thought that I'm going to be like God can be a blessed thought or a damning thought. It all depends on what I mean. I'm going to be like God that I might bring glory to him by my conformity to his image. Or I'm going to exalt myself and come into that God state so I can be worshipped, so I can have power and dominion over others. And you see, we're all striving for one or the other. You're either striving to bring God glory or you're striving for your own glory. You're seeking to bring praise to God or you're seeking to bring praise to yourself. For man is driven to worship. And if I don't worship God, I will worship myself. And my God will become a projection of myself. And that's why it's so important. Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few closing comments. But first I'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or CD. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or CD number T-3258. Again, that's tape or CD number T-3258. As we come to a close in today's program, we'd like to introduce a new book by Pastor Chuck Smith written especially for today's young generation. Do you have what it takes to abstain from the immorality of our culture? Would you stand up for Jesus Christ in a group of complete strangers? What about in a group of your closest friends? It definitely takes a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. The word for today presents Pastor Chuck Smith's new book, Standing Up in a Fallen World, a Bible study based on the book of Daniel, a young man who took a stand for righteousness in a time when he could have lost his life. Filled with encouragement and application, Pastor Chuck teaches a powerful message for today's young adults between the ages of 12 and 20, urging them to stand up against the compromise in the world today and get ready for the Lord's coming. And now for the first time, the word for today is made available clothing, T-shirts, beanies and hats for a limited time only, equipping young adults to witness and revive their generation. Also available is a study guide especially designed for students and family devotions. To order your copy of Pastor Chuck's new book, Standing Up in a Fallen World, the clothing apparel and study guide, you can call the word for today at 1-800-272-WORD or write to us at P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California 92628. Once again, that number to call is 1-800-272-9673. And for those of you that would like to visit our website, you can do so at www.twft.com. Or if you would like to email us, you can do so at info at twft.com. Well, coming up next time on the word for today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah. That's coming up next time on the word for today. And now with a few closing comments, here's Pastor Chuck. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you that you are making us into your image by the work of your Holy Spirit within our lives. Lord, we look around and we see man on the other hand seeking to make you into his image and into his likeness as he creates his own God a projection of himself. But Lord, we thank you that you've called us and chosen us that we should be your children. And as your children, Lord, our desire is to be like you in our attitudes, in our responses, in our actions, in thoughts, in deeds. Help us, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.