All right,

Introduction and Context

you can turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5, as we continue to work through the Ten Commandments. We're in the Second Commandment, so verses 8 to 11. It's good to read the section, though, so I'll start reading in Deuteronomy chapter 5 at verse 1. Remember, this is the longest of the exhortations, beginning here in chapter 5. and continuing all the way to chapter 26, so Moses exhorting the people of God on the plains of Moab prior to their entrance into the promised land and so this emphasis in chapters 5 to 26 is on covenant loyalty, the faithfulness and fidelity of the people of God, so as they enter into the land they are supposed to be obedient to God, if they are they will receive the blessings promised, if they are not then they will receive the curses that are promised in Leviticus 26 and they'll be repeated and amplified and extended even in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

So that's the particular section. This is the sum, or the core rather, of all of that law. So I'll begin reading in verse one.

Scripture Reading

And Moses called all Israel and said to them, hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. "'The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. "'The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, "'but with us, those who are here today, "'all of us who are alive. "'The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain "'from the midst of the fire.

"'I stood between the Lord and you at that time "'to declare to you the word of the Lord, "'for you were afraid because of the fire, "'and you did not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God,

Punishment, Imitation, and Mercy

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

"'In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, "'nor your daughter, nor your male servant, "'nor your female servant, nor your ox, "'nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, "'nor your stranger who is within your gates, "'that your male servant and your female servant "'may rest as well as you. "'And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, "'and the Lord your God brought you out from there "'by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. "'Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you "'to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice. And he added, no more.

And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me." Amen.

The Moral Law and Its Divisions

Remember, the moral law or the Ten Commandments is trans-covenantal. So whatever we find here is binding in the New Covenant as well. It's not a covenant of works. It's not a do this and live.

Rather, it's a look to Jesus and live by God's grace. So we are justified by that grace through faith, we are forgiven of our sins, and we receive that righteousness of our Lord Jesus. He then fills us with the Spirit and points us to the law as a rule or as a guide for our living in the Christian life. So the moral law is binding upon all men everywhere at all time.

The judicial law was specifically for the children of Israel, for their life or tenure in the land. There are certainly principles of wisdom, a general equity principle that we can glean from those judicial laws and bring application in this new covenant era. The other division of the law is ceremonial, and that specifically spoke to Israel's worship, It regulated priesthood. It regulated temple, sacrifice, all those things that were unique to their religious worship.

Those fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ are no longer binding in this new covenant era. So the moral law is judicial law. We learn wisdom and good help with reference to the application of moral law. But the ceremonial law is no longer for us.

So we'll take this second commandment the way that we did the first commandment.

Outline of the Second Commandment

We'll look first at the prohibition, secondly the reason, and then the positive aspect in the commandment. With reference to the first and second commandments, they go hand in hand. They go together. The first commandment gives us the object of worship, and the second commandment prescribes the manner of worship.

So in other words, Commandment number one is the proper God we are to worship and then commandment two is the proper way we are to worship that God. In Israel's history there were times when they predicated of a golden calf that that was Yahweh who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. So that was obviously not worshipping the living and the true God in the proper way. In the history of Israel, there were also times when they went after Baal, or they went after Asherah, or they went after Molech.

That was obviously an infraction of the first commandment. They had a different object. They didn't go after the living and the true God. So these two commandments are inextricably connected.

Watson says, in the first commandment, worshiping a false god is forbidden. In this, worshiping the true god in a false manner is forbidden. So that's the connection between the two. So with reference to the prohibition,

The Prohibition Against Making Idols

notice in verse 8, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. So the first prohibition is the making of idols, and the second prohibition is the worship of idols. So note that the commandment is comprehensive and extensive.

It's not just a, don't make idols and worship them. No, you're not supposed to make an idol at all. You're not supposed to give any visible representation or expression to the living and true God. We've already seen that in Deuteronomy chapter four.

You saw no form, but rather you heard his word. So this is not a prohibition against all art. In fact, when we get to tabernacle and temple, there is certainly artistic expression involved. Those artisans or those craftsmen that are responsible for building the tabernacle and then the temple, were certainly artistically inclined, but the specific prohibition is against making anything to represent the God who is spirit, the God who is simple, the God who is not to be pictured or represented by creature.

And so when we come to this, the first commandment, as I said, forbids the worship of other gods. The second commandment forbids making an idol to represent the true God. So look back to Deuteronomy chapter 4, specifically at verse 15. Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure. the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.

And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the hosts of heaven, if you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage, But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace out of Egypt to be his people and inheritance as you are this day. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance, but I must die in this land. I must not cross over the Jordan, but you shall cross over and possess that good land. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. And if you look back at Exodus chapter 32, Exodus chapter 32, again, we have an expression of worship directed to Yahweh, but specifically targeted at that golden calf. Notice in chapter 32, specifically in verse 1. Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods that shall go before us.

For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf.

Then they said, This is your God, O Israel. That brought you out of the land of Egypt. Notice then in verse 5, so when Aaron sought, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.

So they're predicating of the calf that it brought them out of the land of Egypt, and then this is directed specifically to Yahweh. So what we find there is an exact violation of what is prescribed here, or prohibited rather, in the Second Commandment. You're not supposed to make something and say that this represents God. Idolatry is worshiping false gods or an attempt to worship the true God falsely.

As Turretin says, it is impossible and wicked to represent God by an image. That's what's at stake here. So if you say, well, I'm just making it, but I'm not worshiping it, the commandment prohibits both. You're not supposed to make and you're not supposed to worship.

You're not supposed to make because it's an absolute abomination. We can't picture God. We can't shape God. We can't take creature and make it represent God.

The doctrine of God, or theology proper, demands the rejection of visible representations. Calvin says the first part of the commandment restrains our license from daring to subject God, who is incomprehensible to our sense perceptions, or to represent Him by any form. So the prohibition against making has to do specifically with who God is. He is spirit.

He is infinite. He is eternal. He is unchangeable. He is simple.

He is incomprehensible to everything outside of himself but himself. God knows himself especially. So when we make an image, we are trying to depict that God is this thing, and that is wrong. As Jesus says in John 4, 24, God is spirit.

And it's best to remember that God is his perfections or God is his attributes. It's not that he's made up of those things. God is unique. He is not creature.

And therefore, trying to represent him through creaturely things is to violate the second commandment.

Images of Christ and the Second Commandment

Now, when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, there's certainly some debate as to whether or not this commandment refers to the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. I argue that it in fact does. The second commandment unequivocally forbids making any likeness to represent deity. The Westminster Larger Catechism 109 says, the making any representation of God of all or any of the three persons.

Now, practically, the emphasis in Scripture is not upon what our Lord Jesus Christ looked like. In fact, you can turn to the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. In fact, everything in, I'm sorry, 52. Everything in scripture is just the opposite.

It doesn't say that Jesus was five foot nine, that Jesus had brown hair, that Jesus had big muscles. You need to understand that whenever people picture Jesus, it's theology that drives the conception. In the Jehovah's Witnesses, he's ripped, he's got big muscles, he comes out of the water, the water's glistening on him. The Roman Catholics have him emaciated on the cross, always in a perpetual mode of suffering.

It is theology that drives those representations. Notice in 52.14, just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him.

For what had not been told them, they shall see. And what they had not heard, they shall consider. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him." And then you can turn over to John's Gospel, John chapter 8. John chapter 8. There's an intriguing statement that we see by the opponents of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is about 30 to 33 in his earthly ministry and he has this debate with the unbelieving Jews and he says in verse 56, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? It's said that a 33-year-old man looked 50. Well, it makes sense in the description given by the prophet Isaiah.

He's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. There's nothing about him that draws our attention to him in terms of a depiction that we want to fawn all over. As well, we need to understand that the Bible highlights his unique person, what we call the hypostatic union, the one person, two natures.

And if you look back to John 1, one of the arguments is oftentimes, well, Jesus really was a man. We don't want to be docetists. Docetists taught that Jesus only appeared to be a man. We don't want to be docetists, so there's nothing wrong with having pictures or paintings of our Lord Jesus.

Well, there is something wrong. We cannot capture the glory of the Lord Jesus in a picture. And here in John 1.14 we learn that the Incarnate Word, as He went about doing what the Incarnate Word did, revealed His glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jehovah's Witness Jesus does not express that glory. Roman Catholic Jesus does not express that glory. Any Jesus on a screen, any Jesus on a painting, any Jesus in a picture does not express that glory. So when you saw Jesus, according to his humanity, in his earthly ministry, you did behold that one person who had two natures.

But when you have a picture or an image, you're not beholding that one person that has two natures. You're looking at an artist's conception. You're looking at a theologically driven idea of what they perceive Jesus might have looked like. Notice in John 1, 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

They beheld that glory when they saw Him forgive sins. They beheld that glory when they saw Him raise dead people. They beheld that glory when they saw Him raised from the dead. You cannot capture that in an image.

You cannot get that on a painting. You cannot get that in a movie or on a TV show. There is no reason whatsoever why we wouldn't think that the Second Commandment doesn't apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. The uniqueness of his person, the fact that he has two natures, tells us that we cannot try to represent the God-man with some artist's rendering.

Now the Lord Jesus is to be set forth, not through pictures, not through movies, not through visual aids, but through preaching.

Christ Set Forth Through Preaching

If you look at Galatians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul makes that clear. Galatians chapter 3 verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? How was he clearly portrayed among them as crucified? It wasn't through images, it wasn't through pictures, it wasn't through Mel Gibson's The Passion, it was through the preaching of the gospel.

It was through the preaching of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and Him crucified. Perkins says the image also of the cross and Christ crucified ought to be abolished out of churches, as the brazen serpent was, 2 Kings 18. He also says, So when Paul goes to the churches in southern Galatia and he preaches Christ and Him crucified, he's able to write to them later, that before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. Again, it wasn't through pictures, it wasn't through visual aids.

The Apostle Paul understood the prohibition of the second commandment. Ersinus says, because sometimes people do this, well, you know, what about illiterate people? They need pictures. What about illiterate people?

Shouldn't they get the Jesus film? What about illiterate people? Shouldn't they be, you know, privy to that sort of a thing? Ursinus, way back when, says, God will have His people taught, not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of His Word.

Neither does faith come from the sight of images, but by the hearing of the Word of God. That's always the emphasis. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 5. We walk by faith, not by sight.

So to put our eggs in the basket of images or representations because we want to win these illiterate people to the Lord Jesus is wrong. We preach the gospel to them. We learn their language. We tell them about the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Now, as we go back to the prohibition, there's one other thing we ought to mention.

The Prohibition Against Worshipping Idols

So we've got the making of idols, but also the worship of idols. So he says that. You shall not make. And then it goes on to say, you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.

Roman Catholics use images. Roman Catholics use pictures. Roman Catholics use the stations of the cross. Roman Catholics have all kinds of visual imagery, right down to a tabernacle behind their altar. with a priest serving up an atonement.

Everything about them is contrary to we walk by faith and not by sight. They walk specifically by sight. But they make this statement in the Catholic Encyclopedia. This is from their own writing.

So this is to try and counter the charge that when you make the idol, you then worship the idol. And again, I don't even think that's necessary. Making is condemned, so is worshiping. Right?

But if they're going to say, we're just making these things because they help us in a certain way, but we're not worshiping them. Listen to what they say. Images are in common use in the Catholic Church. The object of images is to set Christ, the Virgin, and the saints before our eyes.

We do not worship the images themselves, the honor which we give these objects being referred to the persons whom they represent. Isn't that precisely what they do in Exodus 32? Isn't this precisely what Jeroboam does in 1 Kings 12? 1 Kings 12, this is exactly the issue. Listen to Turretin's response.

In dealing with a similar statement, quote, I worship not this visible thing but the divinity dwelling there invisibly. He says this. Neither would the Israelites have been idolaters to the golden calf, which they did not suppose to be God. For who can believe them to have been so stupid as to believe the work of their own hands to be that of God who had led them out of Egypt?

They intended merely to form for themselves a representation of Him that they might worship the true God in this image." So he's saying they're They're wrong. They do do that. They do direct religious worship to it. But even if it was the case that they weren't directing religious worship to it, the prohibition against making the idol itself stands.

So whether or not you worship the made idol, you're not supposed to make an idol. Because the idea, again, is theology proper. You cannot take the infinite God and picture him. You cannot take the infinite God and represent him.

There is nothing in the created order that can do that. So when it comes to the prohibition, it's against making, and it's against worshiping. Whatever combination you might try to throw together, both of those are forbidden. They are condemned.

The Reasons for the Commandment

Now as we move through the commandment, we see the reasons given for the commandment. So back to verse 9. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. Now note the rationale, note the reason or the threat, if you will, and the promise.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

God's Jealousy and Covenant Love

So the doctrine of God, that's the first point, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. That perfection of jealousy, when you think about that as it's predicated of God, it does not mean that God moves from one state, non-jealous, to another state, jealous. No, it's an improper predication. It's spoken in the manner of men.

And I think the idea behind it is to underscore his love for his people, right? Jealousy on the part of a husband. Now there's hyper, weird, obsessive jealousy. I mean, brothers, if you put a tracker on your wife's car, you may have some issues.

But a jealous man is recognized as something virtuous in scripture. Look at Proverbs chapter six. Proverbs chapter six. Verse 30, people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving, yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold.

He may have to give up all the substance of his house. Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding. He who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get.

Who do you think he's getting those wounds from? from the husband of the wife that he has violated. So notice, wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. Why? For jealousy is a husband's fury.

Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will accept no recompense, nor will he be appeased, though you give many gifts. So when the Bible predicates jealousy with reference to our God, it's not to speak of some change in God, again, from a non-jealous to a jealous state. It underscores his covenant love.

It underscores his steadfastness. It underscores his interest in his people, that when they go a-whoring from him, he is a jealous God in the way that he deals with that. And so that's what he says here. And so verse 9 again, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

It goes on to say, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. So basically what you have is God, who he is, his perfections, but then the threat of punishment. And notice what idolatry is. It is to hate God.

That's how it's described here. He says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. So, idolatry is an expression of the enmity and the hatred of man for the living and true God. It's not just, well, you know, I made a picture.

I probably shouldn't do those sorts of things. No, it's an expression. No, I get the people that are writing children's story Bibles, and they've got pictures of Jesus, probably aren't sitting at their computers and fashioning their images in an expression of, man, I hate God, and I want to corrupt all these children. I just think this hasn't been taught.

I just think that outside of, you know, some reformed churches, we don't think about what has popularly become called 2CV, second commandment violations. A lot of the Christian trad moms out there are bringing up the guard with reference to suit 2CV, the second commandment violations. Children's picture books filled with images of Jesus, we should rather teach them the Scripture. Again, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

So the commandment is extensive, and this threat of punishment This use is not just here and in Exodus 20, but you see it in Exodus 34, Numbers 14, Jeremiah 32. And as we dealt with, I think it was a week or two ago, the emphasis is not on a transgenerational curse. Ezekiel 18, behold the soul that sins shall die. And then there are various things stated there in Ezekiel 18.

You can have a wicked man who has a wicked son, and both of them subject to punishment. You can have a wicked man who has a righteous son, and the righteous son is not subject to punishment. So it's not a generational curse per se. Just because one generation does it, then the rest of the generation subsequent are going to be cursed.

Now the emphasis is on imitation. Typically if you're the son of an idolater, most likely you're going to be an idolater. You can look at Joshua 24. Joshua 24, where you see something of that.

Joshua chapter 24, specifically at verse 1. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel, your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.

Most likely Abraham was just as idolatrous as his father and his father before him. The issue is not transgenerational curse, the issue is typically children learn what they live and they live what they learn. They see what their parents are doing. If you're bowing to Baal in the living room, most likely you're going to catechize your child to bow to Baal in the living room. most likely your child is going to bow to Baal alongside of you in the living room.

That's why catechizing them in the truth is absolutely crucial, so that we don't teach them to bow before Baal, but rather we teach them to bow before Yahweh, not using, however, any images. Calvin says this, when God declares that He will cast back the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of the children, He does not mean that He will take vengeance on poor wretches who have never deserved anything of the sort, but that He is at liberty to punish the crimes of the fathers upon their children and descendants with the provision that they too may be justly punished as being imitators of their fathers. Stewart says, this oft-repeated theme speaks of God's determination to punish successive generations for committing the same sins they learned from their parents. Again, it's not a transgenerational curse.

It's not built in. Your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was an idolatrous wretch. And so everything that befalls you right now is a curse because of that. That's not biblical.

And some people teach that. Some people think that that is why they've got problems, because they came from a bad background or they had horrible parents. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repent from your sin. Don't worship idols.

Don't give your attention to those things that are not God. Give yourselves wholly and fully to the living and true God. God saves sinners. He saved Abraham out of Ur, the Chaldeans.

He saved Abraham out of an idolatrous family. He saves sinners to the uttermost by Jesus Christ. It is a most blessed thing. And then notice there is this promise of mercy.

Verse 10, but showing mercy to thousands, probably generations, to those who love me and keep my commandments. So the promise is as extensive as is the curse. Those who learn the truth as it is in Jesus, those who believe the gospel, those who are justified freely by God's grace, they can bank on mercy and grace and blessing and joy and good things coming from the Lord God most high. So this is the reason or the rationale given for the commandment.

The Positive Aspect: True Worship

But then finally, the positive aspect of the commandment. Thus far in our studies in the book of Deuteronomy, and even prior to that, in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, what do we see an emphasis on often? Worship. Worship of the true and living God.

I think at times we forget that. We were actually made to worship God. We were made to serve God. We were made to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

And so it shouldn't surprise us that all the way through the wilderness and all the way, you know, when we go back before the wilderness at the base of Sinai, when much of the commandments, much of the legislation being given had to do with worship. had to do with sacrifice, had to do with priesthood, had to do with tabernacle, and eventually temple. All of that underscores the centrality of worship in terms of our relation to the living and true God. And so with reference to worship, chapter 4 here in Deuteronomy deals with the necessity of true worship. And we can see foundational to the teaching of Deuteronomy 4 is the first and second commandments.

When you get to Deuteronomy chapter 12, what is in view there is a central sanctuary. In other words, God didn't want the Israelites just to start worshiping wherever they had a hankering to. No, there was a central sanctuary, and that was for preventative maintenance. God knows that if you go out and you worship on the top of a mountain, now you can obviously today in the New Covenant, you get up to the top of Mount Shem and you want to pray and sing Psalms and praise God, you do that.

That's a great thing. But in the days of Old Covenant Israel, what usually happened when people wandered away from the cult? They wandered into idolatry. They wandered into bad things.

In Joshua chapter 22, the eastern tribes, remember, some of the tribes, three of the tribes stayed on the, or at least two and a half, stayed on the eastern side of the River Jordan. They didn't cross, or they crossed to help with the conquest, but then they went back to that. They make an altar over there, according to Joshua chapter 22. When the Western tribes hear about it, they're going to go kill them.

That was the initial response. And then the specific details notwithstanding, they tried diplomacy. Well, let's talk to them first. And so they said, no, we're not trying to compete with the central sanctuary on the west side, but we just want a reminder.

We want something that reminds us of Yahweh. So the battle was not carried out. Nobody shed blood. The Western tribes were satisfied.

Now, if you ask the question, well, it sounds somewhat akin to what's going on in the prohibition. It wasn't a representation of Yahweh. As they put it, or as they stated, it was a reminder for them concerning the living and true God. But be that as it may, the idea is that a central sanctuary maintains orthodoxy.

So in Deuteronomy chapter 12, that's going to be a huge emphasis. So we've got this emphasis on true worship. Then we come to what we have looked at many times in the past.

The Regulative Principle of Worship

One of these times I'm going to stop and call somebody else to come up and give the rest of this message. The regulative principle of worship. The first and second commandments regulate for us how we approach God. We're not free to innovate.

We're not free to create, whether we're in the Old Covenant or we're in the New Covenant. God has not left it up to man to determine how man shall enter into the presence of God. There is sufficient information in the documents of the New Testament that instruct us on how we are supposed to worship. We're to be faithful.

So with reference to the regulative principle, there is an alternate view called the normative principle. The regulative principle teaches that we do what God commands. Full stop. We do what God commands.

The normative principle says we do what God commands, but we're free to do that which he doesn't condemn. If you can't see the problem in that, Outside of exegesis, you really need to think about it. God doesn't forbid puppet shows. God doesn't forbid a pastor riding to the front of the stage in a Harley, right?

That opens the door to anything and everything. The normative principle, this is what Anglicans, this is what Romanists, this is what Lutherans practiced. And the reform said, no, it's the regulative principle. We are only free to do that which God has commanded.

We're not free to do that which he hasn't condemned or which he hasn't forbidden. So with reference to this, Deuteronomy 12, I mentioned it, you can turn there. Deuteronomy 12, after the teaching concerning the central sanctuary, there is then a warning at the end in verse 29. Verse 29, when the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?

I also will do likewise. See, God knows the heart of man. He knows what's going to happen when they go into that promised land. There's going to be those curious people that say, well, what about this bale?

What about this asherah? What about this mollack? Maybe they work. Maybe bale does provide fertilizer.

Maybe bale is the storm god. Maybe bale will help us with our crops. We're not going to neglect Yahweh, but we're going to add bale services right alongside of Yahweh's. So the caution comes on the heels of this emphasis on a central sanctuary, again, which was given to engage in preventative maintenance with reference to orthodoxy.

Notice in verse 31, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abomination to the Lord which he hates, they have done to their gods. For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Now note verse 32.

This is a encapsulated statement concerning the regulative principle. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. Pastor Albert M.

Martin describes the regulative principle just like that. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else than what God has commanded. That's the safe spot to be relative to the first and second commandments. You've got Hebrews 12, 28, therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reference and godly fear.

Do we think about that word acceptably? Acceptably to who? To the charismatics? The people that want to dance on Sundays, no, it's not acceptable to us.

It's acceptable to God. That should be the requirement when we think through how our church is going to worship. Well, I don't like this. That doesn't matter.

I'd prefer this. That doesn't matter. It's not about us. It's about God.

I'm not saying we should be as nasty and horrible and obnoxious about it as we can possibly be. You know, brethren, we're going to sit on spikes and we're going to just knuckle under and, you know, no AC, nothing like that. You're going to just suffer. No, we'll deal with that sort of category in just a moment.

And then again, Hebrews 12, our God is a consuming fire. Same statement that you get in Deuteronomy 4, 24. Shows the consistency of the principle. If Deuteronomy 4 is about proper worship to the living God, and it's punctuated with the statement, our God is a consuming fire, and then the apostle in Hebrews 12 talks about acceptable worship, and then he punctuates it with, our God is a consuming fire, what is the apostle suggesting there in Hebrews 12?

It's just like the old covenant. The positive laws have changed. There's no more sacrifice, there's no more priesthood, there's no more tabernacle, there's no more incense. Positive law has changed with reference to covenant.

But in terms of moral law, the abiding perpetuity of first and second commandments, you are supposed to worship God the way the covenant you're in dictates and demands. Why? Because our God is a consuming fire. 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly, but if I am delayed, I write, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. When it comes to the regulative principle of worship, you need to understand, when it came to Moses' own tent, Moses' own house, Moses' own dwelling place, God never said, hey Moses, I want the couch in that corner.

I want the fridge over there. I want your entertainment stuff. He doesn't do that. He doesn't regulate Moses' house.

He regulates his house. And that's what Paul says here. I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. The main emphasis on the worshipper ought not to be on what is acceptable to me, but what does the householder demand?

What does this God demand? How am I supposed to function when I'm on His property, when I'm in His house? So when it comes to this, one of our Baptist forefathers, Benjamin Keech, says, whatsoever we do in the worship of God, we must see we have a command from God to warrant our practice. And also, we must not add to, nor diminish from, nor alter anything.

If we do, God will not hold us guiltless. And of course, our confession, I think, has a wonderful statement in chapter 22, paragraph 1. The light of nature shows that there is a God. So what?

We see. As image bearers, when we look out at the world around us, the way Paul tells us, the effects of creation lead us to the reality of a creator. And Paul says his eternal power and Godhead are manifested in the things that are made. Also, sinners, according to 132, know that it's righteous with God to punish sinners.

So, light of nature, general revelation, natural theology, whatever we want to call it, does show us that there is a God who should be worshipped, and that's what the Confession says. The light of nature shows that there is a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all. is just, good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart and all the soul and with all the might." That's why Paul can say in Romans 1, they're without an excuse. Literally, they're without an apologetic. They have no defense.

They can't say, well, I didn't know. Well, the creation around you screams God. You just suppress that truth and unrighteousness because you didn't want to retain the knowledge of God in your hearts. Now our confession then goes on to say this, but, so what they're saying, light of nature shows us there's a God.

Shows us that this God is to be feared, He's to be loved, He's to be served, He's to be worshipped, but The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture." So general revelation tells you there is a God. tells you you should worship and serve that God. But you need special revelation in order to come to that God in the way that He has prescribed, in the way that He has dictated, in the way that He has commanded. So in the Old Testament, it was through the cult. In the New Covenant, it's through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the acceptable way that we approach the Father. So the confessional statement lays down the necessity of worship. As well, our confession deals with a distinction in worship that we need to remember. The distinction is there are elements of worship.

Those are the things that God commands us to do. We're supposed to pray and worship. We're supposed to preach in worship. We're supposed to read in worship.

We're supposed to praise in worship. Those are the elements. When you boil it all down, you ask the question, in the New Testament epistles, what are the apostles telling us we're supposed to do when we get together? Acts 2, they continued steadfastly in what?

In the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Those are elements. Those are non-negotiable. You can't say, well, we're going to not do those, and we're going to supply these things instead.

No, elements are non-negotiable. Those are the things that make up worship. But there are also what's called circumstances. Circumstances has to do with things that aren't prescribed specifically in the Bible, but the light of nature helps us with.

For instance, what time does a church meet? There's no text in Romans 17 that says thou must meet at 11 a.m. on a Sunday morning after either a confession study or a prayer meeting at 9.30 and then you have to meet again at 5. There's no text that prescribes that. There's no text that says that.

Those are circumstances. Those are circumstances that church has put into place where there isn't explicit instruction on those sorts of things. There's no command to use the Trinity Psalter hymnal. It's a circumstance.

Now, in Confession Chapter 1 at paragraph 6, it says, Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed. So in the absence of specific texts as to what time a church meets, it's not wrong for a church to say, we're going to meet at 11. We're going to meet at 5. It's going to help us to keep the Sabbath day.

It's going to be a morning and evening. It's not going to be the Lord's morning. It's not going to be the Lord's evening. It's going to be the Lord's day.

So that's a helpful way to facilitate that. How did we learn that? Romans 17? No, light of nature, Christian prudence, horse sense.

Things that are calculated to promote the use of the elements of worship as we approach the Father through the Son in the Spirit. As well, our confession in chapter 22 highlights the limitation concerning worship. It's only what God commands. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself and so limited by His own revealed will.

It's limited by God. It is by design. And there's a marked difference or contrast between Old Covenant worship with the incense, and with the priesthood, and with the instrumentation, and with the tabernacle, and with the temple. A lot of the older Reform writers says it's because the Jews were carnal.

They were fleshly. They needed that to tie them to that cult. We're in the New Covenant, we're blood-bought children of God with the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, so naturally worship is going to be simple. We don't need all that stuff.

We don't need all of those trappings. We simply need the Father through the Son in the Spirit according to the mind of God as limited by God relative to the worship of the New Covenant Church. The prohibitions concerning worship, devices of men, suggestions of Satan, visible representations, any way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. So, chapter 22, paragraph 1 is a great, you know, if somebody ever says, why doesn't your church have puppet shows?

Why doesn't your pastor ride a Harley up to the pulpit? Well, chapter 22, paragraph 1. And I'm not kidding. I've seen services.

I'm sure it's not going on now, but, you know, super cool pastor dude riding his motorcycle up to the pulpit. I would kill myself if I did that. That would be a horrible venture. If that's required, I'm a goner.

There's a reason I don't ride a motorcycle. I crashed on a mini bike as a kid and broke my collarbone. That cured me. And just in summary, I think Johnson, in his very helpful book, it's a tiny book, excellent book, called Reformed Worship, he says, to put it simply, he's dealing with the elements, in worship we pray the Bible, sing the Bible, read the Bible, and preach and see the Bible.

We see the Bible in the sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. So the first and second commandments are binding upon us today. They're not salvific. It's not, we get saved as long as we only go after the true and living God, only in the manner that he says.

Because remember, if it is that, then it must be exact, it must be entire, and it must be perpetual. So we're not looking to the first and second commandments for salvation, but we are looking to the first and second commandments for instruction, and for assistance, and for aid, and for help, so that as those blood-bought children of God who have been justified freely by His grace, who now have the Holy Spirit, how then are we supposed to approach God? Well, we come to the living and the true God, and we come in the way that He tells us to. It's very simple.

It takes the guesswork out of a lot of it. You don't need teams. You don't need groups. You don't need focused sessions.

Well, how are we going to structure worship? How about this? We do what the apostles tell us, because they're writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We should just listen and obey and do what they call us to do.

So in conclusion, the prohibition, the worshiping of false gods.

Application: Idolatry and Its Consequences

Turn to Psalm 115 to see one of the practical problems in idolatry. One of the practical problems in idolatry. Verse 1, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory, because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, so where is their God?

But our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak.

Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle.

Feet they have, but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. Now note verse eight. Those who make them are like them.

So is everyone who trusts in them. It's interesting, often in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant people are upbraided with the statement, stiff necked. You're stiff necked. That probably is an allusion to them having become like that which they worship.

You're worshipping calves. You're worshipping animals. Animals that need a yoke because they're stiff-necked. Animals that need to be hedged in because they're wayward.

Notice G.K. Beale, in an excellent book on idolatry, it's a biblical theology of idolatry, he says, what you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or for restoration. What you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or for restoration. Those who make them are like them, so is everyone who trusts in them.

Christopher Wright says the primal problem with idolatry is that it blurs the distinction between the creator God and the creation. This both damages creation, including ourselves, and diminishes the glory of the creator. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13 for just a moment. 1 Samuel chapter 13. So worshiping false gods is bad.

You're going to become like those gods. But attempting to worship the true God in a false way is bad, even if you think you should, even if you're compelled or constrained to do it. Notice in 1 Samuel 13, specifically, we'll pick up at verse 8, beginning of the second part of verse 7, as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal. So Samuel told Saul, I'm going to come and meet you.

So, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling. Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.

And he offered the burnt offering. Now, at first glance, we might think, Hey, he's doing something good. He's not doing something good. When the prophet of God says, wait here for me for seven days.

If I don't show up in seven days, that doesn't mean go ahead and just do whatever you want when it comes to worship. Now it happened, verse 10, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel said, what have you done?

Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication of the Lord. Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering. Again, we stop and say, well, he was compelled. He had religious yearnings.

Come on, it was a good thing. It wasn't a good thing. Verse 13, Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you.

For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Now, in 1 Samuel 15, Saul's going to do another bad, wretched, horrible thing. He's going to not obey God when it comes to utterly destroying Agag and the Amalekites.

But the transfer of the kingdom from Saul's son Jonathan to David's house isn't predicated on his ill-fought war against Agag and the Amalekites. That just further sealed the deal. It's on false worship. It's on a second commandment violation.

It's on a, well, I felt compelled. I didn't want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs waiting for you there, Samuel. So the prohibition of the command is serious business. You ask Nadab and Abihu.

Ask Ananias and Sapphira, if you will, in the New Testament. What happens when you don't honor God, when you don't worship God according to his will? Secondly, the positive emphasis of the commandment. We need good theology.

We're not going to worship the true God truly if we don't know that God. As well, the requirement to worship God in an acceptable manner. We need to avail ourselves of the documents that instruct us on how to worship. That, for us in this New Covenant setting, is the New Testament.

Not that we don't learn anything from the Old Testament. We see the continuity in terms of moral principle, first and second commandment. Positive law, however, in the New Covenant is different than it is in the Old Covenant. That's all good theology.

The Bible tells us this. But when it comes to what we do in worship, it's not up to this group or that group. It is up to the New Testament. As well, the blessing of the true worship of God.

You know, you sometimes hear that. Well, you know, I get so much fulfillment out of speaking in tongues. I get so much fulfillment out of, you know, bowing to this Mary statue. Well, what fulfillment?

What kind of fulfillment? Our only desired fulfillment is to honor and glorify God. And if we're kissing the foot of a Mary statue, that's not honoring to God. And then as well, the rejection of will worship.

Will worship is what our confession refers to, and it's there in Colossians chapter two, verses 20 to 23. Those things that men do that have an appearance of being godly, but they're not. They're not godly. Fisher says, and so also are all carnal imaginations of God in his worship, as you may see.

And so also is all will worship, or the worshiping of God according to our own fancy, as you may see. He goes on, whatsoever worships are instituted by men, or do any way hinder God's true worship, they are contrary to this commandment. So very important, first and second commandments, very important that we get our minds wrapped around that prohibition. It's not just the worshiping, but it's also the making.

It's the making and it's the worshiping. Both are prohibited, both are to be shunned and avoided. The theological rationale is because you cannot represent the infinite God. You cannot put into a picture form the hypostatic union of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You just can't do it. So may God help us with reference to these things. We'll all pray.

Closing Prayer

Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for these commandments given on the plains of Moab that were given on Mount Sinai. We see them in the New Covenant as well. We pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things.

Help us to be faithful with reference to these things, not in a sense where we hope to be saved as a result, but because we are saved by great grace. Help us to live in light of these truths, and we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Questions and Answers

Well, any questions or comments? Yes. Yes. The light of nature tells us we should do it on Sunday evening.

No, there's no specific reason. Some of the older authors did argue that it's the Lord's supper. It's not the Lord's breakfast. You know, I think there's some merit to that.

I mean, I don't know that I'd hang my hat on that necessarily, but it does seem to be a good time to facilitate the practice. But no, I don't know of a specific text that demands that it has to be at night. Okay. Well, we did, but we just moved it to one.

Yeah. Yeah. We had to be cunning as serpents.

Scripture References

• Exodus 20; 32:1; 32:5; 34
• Leviticus 26
• Numbers 14
• Deuteronomy 4:15; 4:24; 5:1; 5:8-11; 12:29; 12:31; 12:32; 28
• Joshua 22; 24:1
• 1 Samuel 13:8; 13:10; 13:13; 15
• 1 Kings 12
• 2 Kings 18
• Psalm 115:1-8
• Proverbs 6:30
• Isaiah 52:14; 53
• Jeremiah 32
• Ezekiel 18
• John 1:14; 4:24; 8:56
• Acts 2:42
• Romans 1:20
• 2 Corinthians 5:7
• Galatians 3:1
• Colossians 2:20-23
• 1 Timothy 3:14-15
• Hebrews 12:28-29