1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,680 I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:09,040 book of Deuteronomy. In the Old Testament book of 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:11,520 Deuteronomy, we're going to be looking at a portion of chapter 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,079 5 today as we continue on in our summer sermon series going 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,640 through the 10 commandments. Last week we looked at the first 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,800 commandment and that we saw that in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:25,320 7. You shall have no other gods 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,040 before me. Today we move on to the second 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,720 commandment, which we'll find in verses 8 through 10. 10 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,200 However, if you have come from a Lutheran or Roman Catholic 11 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,440 background, you might be wondering why we're talking 12 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,600 about the first commandment again today. 13 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,720 Those church traditions generally have understood verses 14 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,680 7 through 10 all to be about the first commandment. 15 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,200 Our tradition has been more that verses 8 through 10 is talking 16 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,320 about something substantively different than the first 17 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,280 commandment in verse 7. So let's look and see what we 18 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,440 read in verses 8 through 10 of Deuteronomy chapter 5. 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,480 You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness 20 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,680 of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth 21 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,600 beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 22 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,000 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord 23 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,920 your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 24 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,400 fathers and the children to the third and 4th generation of 25 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,720 those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of 26 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,480 those who love me and keep my commandments. 27 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:38,400 Let's pray together Father, as we come to this portion of Your 28 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,520 Word today, we pray that You would open our hearts, our eyes, 29 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,880 our minds that we might see what You desire us for to see. 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,040 We pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work as we read your word, 31 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,880 as we meditate upon it, that you would take your word and and 32 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,480 cause us to be changed through the work of the Spirit by using 33 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,240 of this word. We pray this in Jesus name, 34 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:07,080 Amen. Some of the best illustrations 35 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:12,440 come right out of the Bible. When Solomon, the king of Israel 36 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:18,600 died through some unfortunate events that took place, the 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:24,520 Kingdom split into two kingdoms. The northern Kingdom was called 38 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,960 Israel, it contained the 10 most northern tribes, and the 39 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,200 southern Kingdom was called Judah indicate it was made-up of 40 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,080 the two southern tribes. The capital city of Jerusalem 41 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,400 was located in the southern Kingdom of Judah. 42 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,360 That's where the temple was. That's where people traveled as 43 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,200 pilgrims to go and to worship the Lord. 44 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,240 The king of the Northern Kingdom was a man named Jeroboam. 45 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,480 Jeroboam was afraid that because the temple, because of the place 46 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,320 to worship was in the Southern Kingdom, that the people in the 47 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,040 Northern Kingdom would be travelling down to Jerusalem 48 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,720 into the Southern Kingdom, and they might start giving their 49 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,360 allegiance to the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. 50 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,960 So he was afraid he might lose his throne. 51 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,280 So Jeroboam made a political move. 52 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,360 He decided to set up two places of worship in the Northern 53 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,640 Kingdom so that the people wouldn't have to go to 54 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:30,200 Jerusalem. He put one in the city of 55 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,880 Bethel, and he put another in the city of Dan. 56 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,320 Now that in and of itself was nothing that the Lord told him 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,240 to do. That was purely Jeroboam trying 58 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,280 to protect his part of the Kingdom. 59 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,680 But it got worse in both of these new places of worship. 60 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,880 Jeroboam had a golden calf placed. 61 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,240 And then Jeroboam declared, Here are your gods, O Israel, who 62 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,720 brought you out of Egypt. Jeroboam was not instructing his 63 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,360 people to worship some foreign God like Baal. 64 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,600 He was telling God's people to worship the one true God, but 65 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,520 through the means of these images, these, these calves that 66 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,240 he had set up. Sounds like Exodus 32. 67 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,360 The Lord called it an abomination. 68 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,240 It was a violation of God's word, of God's law, of the 69 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,560 second commandment. Jeroboam didn't tell his people 70 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,440 to worship a false God. He didn't tell his people not to 71 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,280 worship the Lord. But what he did was to cause the 72 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,360 people to worship the one true God in a sinful way. 73 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,960 He was seeking to reshape God into something that best served 74 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,240 himself. The calves were in place in 75 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,920 Bethel and then Dan for over 200 years. 76 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,120 And we read over and over and over again that one of the 77 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:59,240 primary evaluations of whether the kings of of Israel, the 78 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,560 northern Kingdom, whether the kings were ones who honored the 79 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,680 Lord and followed the Lord or not. 80 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,120 The way that they were evaluated was whether or not they walked 81 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:17,160 in the ways of Jeroboam or not. The first commandment is about 82 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,720 only worshipping the one true God. 83 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,200 The second commandment is about worshipping the one true God, 84 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,720 rightly, correctly, the way that God has called us to do so. 85 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,920 We're not allowed to just use images or idols to fashion God 86 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,280 into who or what we want Him to be. 87 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,880 We must worship Him and serve Him as He truly and eternally 88 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,000 is. Jeroboam may have had good 89 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,800 intentions, but his actions were condemned and considered an 90 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,240 abomination to God. And it's a reminder to all of us 91 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,560 that we need to pay attention to the purpose of the second 92 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,320 commandment and seek to be keepers of it. 93 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,600 So let's take a few moments and consider a few things. 94 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,200 First of all, why does breaking the second command? 95 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:07,600 Why is it? Why is breaking the second 96 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:12,800 commandment such a problem? Secondly, how we break it today 97 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,120 and lastly, how we can what we can do to help us to keep the 98 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,240 second commandment. So first of all, why breaking 99 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,080 the second commandment is a problem? 100 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,080 There are a number of reasons why it's a problem. 101 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,920 The 1st is this, we are instructed in the Bible that God 102 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,640 is Spirit. As Jesus was speaking to the 103 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,680 woman at the well in John chapter 4, he specifically tells 104 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:45,600 her God is spirit. If you have either grown up or 105 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,480 you're using the Westminster Kids Catechism, then you know 106 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,280 that question 9 says what is God? 107 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:57,040 And the answer is God is a spirit and has not a body like 108 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,640 men. To create an image of God is to 109 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,200 deny what God Himself has told us about Himself. 110 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:11,080 He is a spirit and no image, no idol can capture that truth or 111 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,600 that reality. Another reason why the 112 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,920 commandment, why breaking the commandment, second commandment 113 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,880 is such a problem is that it's an offense to the sovereignty of 114 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,960 God. Making an image is an offense to 115 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,160 God's sovereignty. It's an attempt to make the 116 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:33,480 infinite finite, to make the limitless limited, to make the 117 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:38,800 incomprehensible comprehensible. It's attempt. 118 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,080 It's an attempt to make the one with unlimited power something 119 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,560 that can be controlled and manipulated. 120 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,920 God is sovereign. He's not able to be manipulated 121 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:51,960 or controlled. He is the Creator. 122 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,920 He is the Maker of all things seen and unseen. 123 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,920 He is the one who owns 1000 cattle or cattle on 1000 hills. 124 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:02,200 It's an offence to his sovereignty. 125 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:03,960 It's also an offence to His glory. 126 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,480 In Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 9, God declares Himself that He 127 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,080 is a jealous God. As we talked about last week. 128 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:15,520 He's not jealous like we get jealous. 129 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,800 His is not a sinful jealousy. His is a holy jealousy. 130 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,360 And what is God jealous for? He is jealous for His own glory. 131 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,600 He will give His glory to no one or no thing else. 132 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,200 There's no possible way for the full glory of God to be 133 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:38,440 represented in an image or an idol, and to try to do so as an 134 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,919 offence to God. Another reason why breaking the 135 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:47,880 second commandment is such a problem when we create images 136 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,480 ourself is because we're not recognizing the fact that God's 137 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:57,880 already given us authorized images to help us understand who 138 00:08:57,880 --> 00:08:59,800 He is. What has He given us? 139 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:06,240 He's given us His word, He. He's given us the proof and the 140 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:12,160 demonstration of His work. He's given us names by which we 141 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:18,960 can call Him and call on Him. And more than that, He has given 142 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,440 us the ultimate image by which we can understand God, and that 143 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,280 is His Son. Colossians chapter one verse 15. 144 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,280 Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 145 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:35,960 Hebrews chapter 1 verses one through 3. 146 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,880 Long ago, at many times and in many ways God spoke to our 147 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,680 fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to 148 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:48,040 us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through 149 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:52,840 whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory 150 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,960 of God and the exact imprint of His nature. 151 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,520 That word imprint there means image or character. 152 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:08,200 Jesus is the exact image, imprint, character of God. 153 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:12,360 And think of it this way as well. 154 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:20,640 God's also given us ourselves. We are made in the image of God. 155 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,680 As you look around at your fellow human beings, you are 156 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,480 seeing the image of God. We are made in the very image of 157 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:30,720 God. We are told in Genesis chapter 158 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:34,200 one. We have no need to create images 159 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:35,920 by which to know or to worship God. 160 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,560 He's given us authorized images to use. 161 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,440 And the last reason why we break, why breaking the second 162 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:48,040 commandment is such a problem, is that the Bible instructs us 163 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,800 that we are to see by hearing right. 164 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,640 Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 12. Moses is speaking to the people. 165 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,280 He's reminding them of when they stood at the foot of the 166 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,760 mountain and the Lord gave them His word. 167 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,480 And then this is what we read. Then the Lord spoke to you out 168 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,360 of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words but 169 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,360 saw no form. There was only a voice. 170 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,800 The New Testament puts us this way in Romans chapter 10. 171 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,680 So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of 172 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:24,960 Christ the way that we see, the way that we grow, the way that 173 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,560 we mature in faith. It's not by creating images by 174 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:30,880 which we might try to understand God. 175 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,920 It is by hearing the Word of God, which is what we are doing 176 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:39,480 at this very moment. Breaking the second commandment 177 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,200 is a problem. These are the reasons why it's a 178 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,680 problem. And notice it's a significant 179 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:50,320 problem in the eyes of the Lord. Consider the seriousness of the 180 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:56,800 curse that he mentions here. He says, I, the Lord your God, 181 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,160 am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the 182 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,520 children to the 3rd and the 4th generations of those who hate 183 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,800 me. Kevin Deyoung and his little 184 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,720 book on the 10 Commandments. Take some time to reflect on 185 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,040 what this is saying, what this means, what this curse is 186 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:18,640 saying, and what it is not saying. 187 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,480 This curse doesn't mean that a righteous child will be punished 188 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,400 for the sins of a wicked father. This curse is talking about 189 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:31,960 God's judgment on those who choose to walk in the wicked 190 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,440 ways of their parents and their grandparents and their great 191 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,640 grandparents. Notice we read at the end of 192 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:40,400 verse 9. This is a curse for those who 193 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:46,720 hate the Lord. It says future generations who 194 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,960 walk in the wickedness of their relatives will share in the 195 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,800 punishment of their relatives. The Lord is speaking to His 196 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,200 people and saying, if you, if you keep sending like your 197 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:00,440 parents, like their parents, like their parents before them, 198 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,160 then you get the same judgement that will be brought upon you. 199 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,200 This is how significant of a problem it was in the mind of 200 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,440 the Lord to break the second commandment. 201 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,400 These are the reasons why breaking it is such a problem, 202 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,200 But we need to own up to the fact that we break the second 203 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,600 commandment as well. So let's think about this for a 204 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,160 moment. How, how do we break this 205 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,000 commandment today? Now, it's certainly the case 206 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,960 that there are places and people today that continue to use kinds 207 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,520 of literal images to worship the Lord. 208 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:40,040 They they actually use images to to worship, assuming that's not 209 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,920 as much of a big deal for us here today. 210 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:47,760 But what probably is more of an issue for us is making images of 211 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:53,080 God in our minds, making God into the God that we want Him to 212 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,760 be or who we think He should be. This is more of what was 213 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,520 happening in Exodus chapter 32, that the people created this 214 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,480 golden calf or this golden bull in order to be thinking about 215 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:09,640 the power of God, the strength of Yahweh. 216 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,600 The people were afraid, where was Moses? 217 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,360 They wanted to wield the power of God for themselves and to 218 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,200 provide for themselves and to protect themselves, and so they 219 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:24,640 fashioned an image. This is more about how we break 220 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,440 the second commandment today. We fashion God in our minds and 221 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,720 focus on perhaps just one aspect of God's character or God's 222 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,680 attribute, right? We think about God as a God of 223 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,160 love, but that's all we think about God. 224 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:47,520 We turn him into a sort of cosmic Santa Claus, losing sight 225 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:51,360 of his righteousness, of His Holiness. 226 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:58,360 Or perhaps we think of God as a tyrant, A dictator, A harsh 227 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:03,400 king. We lose sight of his grace, of 228 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,800 his mercy, of his steadfast love and care. 229 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,320 Or maybe we think of God as my good friend, my buddy. 230 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,000 We lose the sense of God's majesty and glory and 231 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,720 transcendence. And when we when we do this in 232 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,360 our minds, it can have a negative impact on how we live 233 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,400 our lives. We, we, we can justify or excuse 234 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,080 or ignore our sin because God has got a God of grace. 235 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,680 He's a God of mercy. He'll forgive me, he'll 236 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:39,400 understand. But when we think of God as only 237 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,680 being a hard tyrant and could lead us to living a life of 238 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:48,600 feeling oppressed and judged and even depressed, or maybe we 239 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,200 think of God as a God of quid pro quo. 240 00:15:52,760 --> 00:16:01,800 This for that, as if God says to us, as long as you obey me, I'll 241 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:07,400 give you what you want. And so we try to manipulate God 242 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,880 by our non genuine superficial obedience to try to get what we 243 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:17,760 want from him. The Westminster divines, the the 244 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,280 the folks that wrote the Westminster Standards, they felt 245 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,360 so strong about the way that we break the second commandment in 246 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:30,160 our minds that they wrote in Westminster Larger Catechism 109 247 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,560 that the question there is what are the sins forbidden in the 248 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,640 second commandment? Let me read to you just the 249 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:40,440 first half of their answer. The sins forbidden in the second 250 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:46,520 commandment are all devising, counselling, commanding, using, 251 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:51,320 and any wise approving any religious worship not instituted 252 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:56,640 by God Himself, tolerating a false religion, the making any 253 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,760 representation of God of all or of any of the three Persons, 254 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:05,359 either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly, in any kind of image 255 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,680 or likeness of any creature whatsoever. 256 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,599 Now they go on for several more sentences and explaining what 257 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,440 they believe means of breaking of the second commandment. 258 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,400 Did you hear what they said? The sins forbidden in the second 259 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,400 commandment? It's making any representation 260 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,400 of God of all or any of the three persons inwardly in our 261 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,240 minds or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any 262 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,000 creature whatsoever. Now I will tell you, there are 263 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,400 differing opinions about what how far that goes in our 264 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,120 circles, in our denomination. But the point is that the 265 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:41,600 Westminster Divine's felt that God's Word and what he says 266 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:46,640 about the second commandment is so significant and important 267 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,440 that we should not dare to break it by doing this, by fashioning 268 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:53,600 God in a certain way in our mind. 269 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,480 We can break the second commandment by worshipping the 270 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:04,600 right God the wrong way. During the summer of the year 271 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,480 2000, I visited Portugal on a work trip. 272 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,720 I was working at Mission to the World at the time and I took a 273 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,160 group of pastors on what we called a vision trip. 274 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,080 We went to Portugal to look at how God was at work in that 275 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:23,520 place through the MTW team in Portugal and at the end of our 276 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:28,520 visit the the MTW missionaries that we were visiting took us N 277 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:34,280 to a town named Fatima. It was location of one of the 278 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,040 highest religious sites for the Roman Catholic Church. 279 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:45,440 The story is told that the the mother of Jesus, Mary appeared 280 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:51,640 to three small shepherd children in the year 1917 in Fatima. 281 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,760 These children became heroes. They became Saints of the 282 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:00,400 church. An enormous cathedral was built 283 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,720 on the site, also including a hospital that was near some 284 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,520 trees where the event was said to have taken place. 285 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,160 Now this visit was fascinating for a lot of reasons, but 286 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,800 probably the biggest reason was what we saw out back of the 287 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,680 cathedral. As you exited the back of the 288 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:23,000 cathedral and as you walk into this enormous courtyard made of 289 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,640 stone bricks along the ground and down the middle of this 290 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:33,920 courtyard, right up leading right up to the cathedral was a 291 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,720 single person with stone walkway. 292 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,120 As you walk out into the courtyard and you turn around, 293 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:48,760 you see 3 enormous pictures at the top of the cathedral. 294 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:55,600 One of each of the children, pilgrims from all over the 295 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,240 world, would come to the cathedral at Fatima every year. 296 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,640 They would start at the furthest end of the courtyard, forming a 297 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,480 single line in the middle of that walkway, get down on their 298 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:14,120 hands and knees, and crawl toward the cathedral, looking up 299 00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:17,520 and focusing on the three pictures of the children as they 300 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:23,280 did so, worshipping the Lord through the images of these. 301 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,360 Children Now perhaps it's the case that some go to Fatima to 302 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:32,040 actually worship the children. They would be breaking the first 303 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,480 commitment. But what we've when we visited, 304 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:39,080 what we saw most was people going to worship the Lord, but 305 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,520 doing so through the images on the back of the cathedral, 306 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:50,080 attempting to get God to bless them, to heal them, to rescue 307 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,000 them by giving devotion to these images. 308 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,800 And so they were breaking the second commandment. 309 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:02,920 Now that seemed outrageous, so obvious how it was wrong to be 310 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,400 doing that, how clearly it was a violation of the second 311 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,680 commandment. The brothers and sisters in 312 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,120 Christ, we do it too, albeit in different ways. 313 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:19,640 Fashioning images of the Lord in our minds, trying to fashion Him 314 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,560 into being what we want him to be, who we think he should be. 315 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:27,000 Failing to take the Lord on His own terms as He has revealed 316 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,880 Himself in His word. Worshipping Him through some use 317 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,320 of means that He has not given to us to worship Him. 318 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:39,960 And so we need to reflect. Lastly, how can we? 319 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,240 What can we do to help us to keep the the 2nd commandment? 320 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,440 3 things as we finish today that can help us. 321 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,320 The 1st is this. We need to see Jesus. 322 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,280 We need to see Jesus go back to the story of Exodus 32 and the 323 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,320 story of the golden calf. A little bit further in that 324 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,120 story than what we read earlier in the service, we find Moses 325 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,920 addressing the people who had sinned by seeking to worship the 326 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,760 one true God with this image, with with this idol. 327 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:16,160 And we read in chapter 32 verses 30 to 32, this this, the next 328 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,680 day Moses said to the people, you have sinned a great sin. 329 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,800 And now I will go up to the Lord. 330 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,960 Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. 331 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,280 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, alas, this people has 332 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,080 sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves 333 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,960 gods of gold. But now if you will forgive 334 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:39,480 their sin. But if not, listen to what Moses 335 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,000 says. But if not, please blot me out 336 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,560 of your book that you have written. 337 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,520 Moses asked the Lord to forgive the sins of the people, but he 338 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,000 says if not, then put their sins on me. 339 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,400 What is this if it's not a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ 340 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,040 who would come into this world as the exact representation, the 341 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,440 exact image, the exact imprint of God and live a life of of 342 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,800 perfect love and obedience to His Father? 343 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,440 He would live in the midst of a people who worshipped false gods 344 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,800 and people who worshipped the one true God wrongly. 345 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,920 He would live his life in the midst of Breakers of the 1st and 346 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,280 the 2nd commandments, but He would never break them Himself. 347 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,520 He would never break any part of God's law. 348 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,520 He perfectly loved and obeyed His Father, and then He 349 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,200 willingly gave His life as a payment for those Breakers of 350 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,000 the second commandment. He stood before his Father and 351 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,480 asked the Father to put the sins of His people on Himself on His 352 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,560 account. It was as it were that Jesus 353 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,960 said, Blot me out so that my people can have eternal life and 354 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,000 eternal inheritance. Brothers and sisters in Christ, 355 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,360 when we see the beauty and the grace of the gospel, when we see 356 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:06,200 the extent of God's love demonstrated for us in the 357 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,080 cross, it should move us more and more to want to keep the 358 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,440 second commandment to honour the Lord with our lives and in our 359 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,720 minds. To make sure that we are not 360 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,080 only focusing on just one aspect of who God is, for our own 361 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:29,640 benefits, to alone worship him as he desires and commands. 362 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,880 Because as we reflect on the gospel, we look and we see. 363 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,040 Look at what Jesus has done for us. 364 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,480 Look at his love for us. Look at how much he cares for 365 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,680 us. Let's be keepers of the second 366 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:49,600 commandment to honour him. Secondly, we should see the 367 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,920 wisdom of the regulative principle of worship. 368 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,160 Now, if you're not from a Presbyterian or Reformed 369 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,440 tradition, that's probably a very foreign phrase to you. 370 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,160 The regulative principle of worship. 371 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:04,960 What in the world does that mean? 372 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,600 The the regulative principle of worship? 373 00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:15,000 It's a theological idea that says we will only do in worship 374 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,520 what God has said to do in worship. 375 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,640 We will be regulated by the Word of God in terms of what we do in 376 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,120 our corporate worship together. If God has not told us in His 377 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:31,920 Word to do X, then we will not do X in our worship service. 378 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:36,120 Now, that's different to what most of the rest of the 379 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:40,080 evangelical world holds to which would be what probably called 380 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,760 the normative principle of worship. 381 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:48,360 And that idea is, if something's not forbidden in the Bible to do 382 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:50,000 in worship, then we're free to do it. 383 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,560 The problem with that is it can be taken too far. 384 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,360 We can end up with things in corporate worship that have no 385 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:03,320 business in the worship service. There is wisdom to adhering to 386 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,560 this regulative principle of worship. 387 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,120 It helps to guard US against worshipping the one true God in 388 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:13,520 wrong ways. We only want to worship the Lord 389 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,600 God Almighty as He has instructed us to worship Him in 390 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,000 the ways that He has provided, that He would receive glory and 391 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,080 praise that He is due and that He desires right. 392 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,240 We're not told to use cookies and fruit punch with the Lord's 393 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:34,000 Supper. We're told to use bread and 394 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,760 wine. We're not told to show an entire 395 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:40,800 short movie in the place of a sermon. 396 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,760 We're told to hear the word of God preached. 397 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:49,840 Now, those are some ludicrous examples perhaps, but I've heard 398 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:54,600 examples of that happening before over the years. 399 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,560 I'm occasionally asked why? Why don't you do more or 400 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,280 different kinds of things in worship? 401 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,640 And This is why in our church, in our denomination, we are, we 402 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,800 are bound by the wisdom of this regulative principle of worship. 403 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,040 Now certainly it's the case there's flexibility for how we 404 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,120 do things in our worship service, but what we do in our 405 00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:16,840 worship service is bound by what the Lord God Almighty has told 406 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:22,960 us to do to worship him rightly. So the wisdom of this regulative 407 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,080 principle can help us to be keepers of the second 408 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,880 commandment. Thirdly and lastly, something 409 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,400 that we can do to help us to be keepers of the second 410 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,560 commandment is to root out the images and the idols as a way of 411 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,520 worshipping the Lord. When we find ourselves making 412 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,320 use of images or idols of the Lord, whether externally or 413 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,440 internally, when we find ourselves only focusing on 414 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,760 isolated aspects of who the Lord is, His nature and His 415 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,560 attributes, we need to take the step of rooting it out of our 416 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,560 hearts, out of our minds, out of our lives. 417 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,160 It's too dangerous to let that fester and linger. 418 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:08,880 Things like the prosperity gospel movement or the Moral 419 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,080 Therapeutic Deism movement, or even the deconstruction movement 420 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,000 all have substituted images of God that lead them away from who 421 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,120 God truly is. Breaking the second commandment 422 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:26,520 and not doing anything about it. That's dangerous to our souls. 423 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,040 So when we find ourselves doing it, we need to ask the Lord to 424 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,400 forgive us and then turn away from breaking the second 425 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:39,320 commandment and turn back to Him and loving obedience, moving 426 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,880 toward intentionally, proactively seeking to be 427 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,080 keepers of the second commandment. 428 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,600 What can help us to keep the second commandment? 429 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,760 We need to see Jesus. We need to see the wisdom of the 430 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,400 regulative principle of worship. And then we need to be 431 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,240 intentional about trying to root out those images in idols, in 432 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,840 our hearts and our minds and our lives as a way of worshiping the 433 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:04,600 Lord. Let's pray together.