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Deuteronomy 5, our focus this 
evening will be on the second commandment, verses 8 to 10. I do want to read the section 
though, it's good and helpful to see it in its context with 
the other nine words and in the specific context wherein Moses 
is preparing the people to enter into the land of promise. They are currently on the plains 
of Moab. This is a rehearsal of God's 
truth by way of exhortation. Several given by Moses to prepare 
the people prior to the entrance into the promised land. Beginning 
in chapter 5 at verse 1, 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, 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 has given 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. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank you for Holy Scripture and we thank you for 
this opportunity to gather in your church. We pray for the 
ministry of the Spirit of God that he would guide and lead 
and direct us as we seek to understand the truth, as we seek to put 
it into practice in our own lives as individuals, as families, 
and as well as a church. Keep us from this sin of idolatry. Cause us, God, to fear you and 
to treat you the way the Bible tells us to, to treat you according 
to your holiness and your majesty and your excellence. Give us 
grace, Lord God, to receive these things. Give us forgiveness for 
all of our sins, even now. Cleanse us in the blood of the 
Lord Jesus Christ and help us, Father, to receive these things 
unto your glory and for our benefit and well-being. And we pray these 
things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, just prior 
to our exposition of Deuteronomy 5, 8 to 10, turn to Romans chapter 
1 for just a moment. give you a bit of an understanding 
as to why this first table of the law needs to be understood 
and we need to reckon with it. I submit that if we have a difficulty 
with the first table, then the second table is going to be likewise 
difficult. In other words, if we reject 
God, we simply cannot expect harmony in society or in our 
families or as individuals. Notice in Romans 1.18, the apostle 
says, of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness 
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. I don't believe that there is 
a mistake here in terms of the order. The apostle indicates 
that ungodliness precedes unrighteousness. In other words, what we think 
concerning God, how we treat God, affects the way that we 
live. I think the remainder of chapter 
1 fleshes this out. It indicates it. It highlights 
it. Notice, specifically, In verse 21, because although they 
knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, 
but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were 
darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed 
the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible 
man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. 
Idolatry, or a rejection of God, or a disdain for the true and 
living God, precedes all of the things that then come forth. Notice, as the apostle continues, 
therefore, as a result of this idolatry, As a result of this 
sin, as a result of this rejection of the living and true God, therefore 
God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, 
to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the 
truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature 
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. So 
they reject God, so God gives them up. They then turn back 
to their idolatry, and then all manner of unrighteousness proceeds. Verse 26, for this reason God 
gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged 
the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, 
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for 
one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving 
in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Gross 
sexual immorality is a symptom of the larger problem. We don't 
necessarily have a homosexuality problem, though we do. We have 
an idolatry problem. When men reject and resist the 
living and the true God, then He gives them over, and all manner 
of wickedness then multiplies. So going back to Deuteronomy 
5, it is absolutely imperative that we understand this first 
table of the law. It is good for us to oppose same-sex 
marriage. It is good for us to oppose heterosexual 
fornication. It is good for us to be pro-life 
and oppose the murder of babies and the euthanizing of those 
who are sick. But as well, we need to be about 
the true worship of the living God. We need to be about valuing 
and prizing His name, and we need to be about His Sabbath 
day. If we stumble at the first table, we cannot righteously 
expect that everything's going to go well for us in terms of 
an application of the second table of the law. A disregard 
for the first table ensures problems with the second table. When we 
look around at society, the great need is that the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed so that sinners are saved and 
they're turned from their useless idols to the true and the living 
God. I want to look at this second 
commandment under three considerations tonight. First, the positive 
aspect of the commandment. Secondly, the prohibitions of 
the commandment. And then the reasons given for 
the commandment. All of this in verses 8 to 10, 
but we will look at other portions of scripture. In the first place, 
the positive aspect of the commandment. Taken with the first commandment, 
commandments 1 and 2 promote to us the true worship of the 
living God. The first commandment underscores 
the object of worship. You shall have no other gods 
before me. Yahweh is identified as the one to whom we are to 
worship. The second commandment speaks 
to the manner. How do we approach Yahweh? Do 
we just run into his presence in any old way that we want? 
Or do we come as He demands or as He commands? Chapter 4, there's 
a great caution against idolatry, a detailed section where God, 
through Moses, tells the people to resist and reject idolatry. Deuteronomy chapter 12 deals 
with the centralization of worship, which is designed to regulate 
the conduct of Israel at worship. Again, people weren't afraid 
to just go hankering after God in any old place they desire, 
but they must go to God as God commanded. As well, with reference 
to this emphasis on true worship, the Bible highlights it. But 
our Reformation heritage highlights this as well. We are Reformed 
Baptists, and there's a reason that we are Reformed Baptists. 
One man says, concerning the Reformation period, this is Terry 
Johnson, he says, many modern historians of the Reformation 
period have allowed the dominant personality of Luther and his 
struggle to faith overshadow the heart of the Swiss and Calvinistic 
Reformation. For Luther and the Lutherans, 
the focus was justification. How can a man be just before 
God was their primary question. But for Zwingli, Calvin, and 
the Reformed stream, the focus was not justification, as important 
as they agreed it was. Their focus was worship. How 
is God to be worshiped, they asked. For Lutherans, the enemy 
of faith was works. For the Reformed, the enemy of 
faith was idolatry. Again, it's not saying that Calvin 
and Zwingli were anti-justification by faith alone. but rather it 
is a question of priority or emphasis. Calvin says this concerning 
the two defining elements of Christianity, which he says constitutes 
the whole substance of Christianity. First, a knowledge. First, of 
the right way to worship God, and secondly, of the source from 
which salvation is to be sought. I think that's a very important 
emphasis that we need to understand as participants in the reform 
stream. As well, these first two commandments 
help us with what has historically been called the regulative principle 
of worship. Simply defined, this means that 
God regulates worship. God commands how we are to worship. We are supposed to obey God on 
the things that He commands. And we are forbidden or prohibited 
from doing that which He forbids or from doing that which He doesn't 
command. You see, in Anglicanism and in 
Lutheranism and in other places, they say, Well, as long as God 
doesn't forbid it, it's okay for us to do. That's not the 
regulative principle of worship. We do what God commands. We are not free to do what He 
forbids, and we are not free to do what He doesn't command. 
God doesn't forbid puppet shows in the front of the church. Does 
that mean we can undertake puppet shows in the front of the church? The regulative principle of worship 
says absolutely not. We are not free to introduce 
things that God has not commanded. Deuteronomy 12.32 is one of the 
texts that justifies this. Whatever I command you, be careful 
to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take 
away from it. 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 reverence and 
godly fear. Again, we need to ask the question, 
who defines acceptable worship? For the Christian, it is always 
God who defines acceptable worship. It isn't our felt needs, it isn't 
our hankerings, it isn't our desires, but it is rather the 
word of the living God that is to dictate and demand how we 
approach God and worship. Interestingly, after this text 
in Hebrews 12.28, the author then quotes Deuteronomy 4.24. 
For our God is a consuming fire. Intriguing that he reaches back 
into Deuteronomy to underscore the principle as to why we are 
to worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Our 
confession summarizes the principle this way, but the acceptable 
way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself and 
so limited by his own revealed will that he may not be worshiped 
according to the imaginations and devices of men. We are simply 
not allowed to be innovative or to be creative. If I come 
out here juggling, you know, whatever it is they juggle, that's 
wrong. Throw me out. We are not to be 
innovative or creative in the worship of God. that he may not 
be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, 
nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, 
or any way or other way not prescribed by the Holy Scriptures." As Pastor 
A.N. Martin defines it, in a pretty 
wonderful little simple way. With reference to the regulative 
principle, we are to do nothing more and nothing less and nothing 
else than what God has commanded. In the words of Terry Johnson, 
to put it simply, in worship we pray the Bible, we sing the 
Bible, we read the Bible, and we preach the Bible. As well, 
we see the Bible in the sacraments. is a wonderfully concise description 
of the regulative principle of worship. So the positive aspect 
of the commandment is that we are to worship Yahweh alone, 
and we are to worship Him in the manner prescribed in His 
Holy Word. Now notice, secondly, the prohibitions 
of the commandment, and they are twofold. First, the making 
of idols is condemned, and secondly, the worship of idols is condemned. which hopefully follows necessarily. If we are prohibited from making 
an idol, it certainly follows that we are prohibited. from 
worshiping the idol. But I want to look at this making 
of idols under four sub-heads. The first, I want to make a qualification. This does not prohibit all art. This does not do away with all 
art. Very specifically, the priest's 
garment pictured pomegranates, the mercy seat and the Ark of 
the Covenant had two cherubim of gold on either end. The commandment 
is not prohibiting all art. Art is legitimate. Art is a good 
thing. God has made men and women artistic 
beings. Persons are able to do things 
that are beautiful and wonderful and lovely. The second commandment 
does not prohibit that. It does not forbid that. The 
specifics of the commandment speaks to making carved images 
or the likeness of anything as representations of God or as 
aids to be utilized in worship. Ursinus says it this way, the 
law does not therefore forbid the use of images, but their 
abuse, which takes place when images and pictures are made 
either for the purpose of representing or worshiping God or creatures. That's the prohibition. You are 
not to make an idol of Yahweh or an idol that is used in the 
worship of Yahweh. That is denounced. That is forbidden 
and prohibited. Secondly, by way of explanation, 
I've already mentioned, the first commandment forbids us from worshiping 
Baal and Moloch and Ashtoreth. Certainly we are not to make 
idols in homage to those false gods. The second commandment 
forbids making an idol to represent the true God. The commandment 
one says we are to worship the true God alone. Commandment number 
two says we are to worship the true God truly. We are not to 
approach the true God in a false manner. We are not supposed to 
approach the true God in a way unauthorized. We are not supposed 
to come to the true God in a way that is our hankerings or our 
desires or our carnality. Rather, the commandment prescribes 
for us that God the Lord is the one who defines what worship 
is. I've mentioned Deuteronomy 4, 
15 to 24, already highlight this fact. Exodus 32, 1 to 6, what 
did the people of Israel do there? They were worshiping Yahweh via 
the golden calf. What does Jeroboam do after the 
division of the kingdom? Jeroboam knows that if the person's 
in the north, go down to the south to celebrate feast days, 
well then they might just stay there. So Jeroboam fashions together 
an idol and says, this is Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt. 
It is the worship of the true and living God in a manner or 
by a means that he has not authorized. The point of the passage, the 
point of the prohibition, is that worshiping false gods or 
an attempt to worship the true God falsely. Calvin says this 
with reference to this second word. To sum up, he wholly calls 
us back and withdraws us from petty carnal observances which 
our stupid minds, crassly conceiving of God, are wont to devise. Turretin says it is impossible 
and wicked to represent God by an image. Again, brethren, we 
ought to cry out when there is a movement in the land that authorizes 
wickedness. But why don't we cry out when 
the churches of Jesus Christ are not worshipping the true 
God truly? They are worshipping the true 
God through means and a manner that God has never authorized. 
Remember that incident, Leviticus chapter 10. Chapters 1 to 9 detail 
and highlight how the priest of God was to approach God. In 
fact, the people offered up a sacrifice at the end of chapter 9. God 
sent fire out of heaven and consumed the offering. And the people 
shouted. It was a time of blessing and 
rejoicing. We turn immediately to chapter 
10 and Nadab and Abihu offer up strange fire before the Lord. What were they thinking? God 
just spelled it out in nine chapters. What could they possibly be thinking? Well, we'll just go after this 
strange fire and we'll present this to Yahweh and He will certainly 
accept it. No, God sent fire out of heaven 
again. But this time it didn't consume 
the sacrifice, it consumed the priests. It killed them. The 
Lord destroyed them. And the Lord underscored the 
point with reference to how important the first and second words are. 
He says, by those who come to me, I must be regarded as holy. I am not an equal. I am not on 
the same level. I'm not your next door neighbor. 
I'm not your buddy. I'm not your child. I'm not your 
parent. I am your God. And the way that 
you come to me is specified by me. And all those who try to 
take a securitist route will find themselves in a great deal 
of danger. The theological rationale for 
this, in the third place, the doctrine of God. The doctrine 
of God, theology proper, demands a rejection of idols. How do 
we possibly image, how do we possibly represent the God described 
in Holy Scripture? Again, 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. The attempt to represent an incomprehensible 
God by a comprehensible means is condemned here. What is God's 
indictment of the nation of Israel in Psalm 50? You thought that 
I was altogether just like you. You see, this is the essence 
of idolatry. It is to pull God down from His 
throne and to try to localize Him. It is the attempt to domesticate 
Him. It is the attempt to render the 
incomprehensible comprehensible. It is the attempt to take this 
One who inhabits eternity, who is holy, holy, holy, and picture 
Him through a calf, or picture Him through some other visible 
representation. You are forbidden from doing 
such a thing. As well, our Lord Jesus tells 
us specifically in John 4, Verse 24, God is spirit. God is spirit. Again, her sinus says, from the 
nature of God. God is incorporeal. That means 
he is not fleshly. God is incorporeal and infinite. It is impossible, therefore, 
that he should be expressed or represented by an image which 
is corporeal and finite without detracting from his divine majesty. You can't do it. You can't domesticate 
the sovereign God. You cannot localize the omnipresent. You cannot fashion something 
to represent this God. God is known by his attributes, 
which, by the way, are identical with his essence and his existence. 
But some of the attributes of God we call incommunicable. He 
doesn't communicate those to us. We are always creaturely. 
We always will be limited. Things like independence or aseity. How do you capture that in a 
representation? What about immutability? What 
happens to idols? They age, don't they? You have 
to buff them out. They fall sometimes. Didn't Dagon 
fall before the Ark of the Covenant? You have to fix that. This does 
not bespeak an immutable God. Infinity. Again, when we think 
infinity, we ought not to think of a golden calf. unity, simplicity, 
all of these incommunicable attributes of God. We cannot fashion something 
that rightly relates or bears forth what God is indeed. Isaiah 40. You can turn there 
for just a moment. Isaiah 40. As God highlights His sovereignty 
and His majesty and His excellence and His glory through the prophet 
Isaiah, notice in verse 12. Who has measured the waters in 
the hollow of His hand? Measured heaven with a span and 
calculated the dust of the earth in a measure. Weighed the mountains 
in scales and the hills in a balance. Who has directed the Spirit of 
the Lord or has, as His counselor, taught Him? With whom did He 
take counsel and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path 
of justice? Who taught Him knowledge and 
showed Him the way of understanding? This is a big God, isn't He? 
This is a majestic being, isn't he? This is a sovereign being, 
isn't he? This is a glorious God. Now note 
the implications drawn out. Verse 18, to whom then will you 
liken God? Or what likeness will you compare 
to Him? Notice, the workman molds an 
image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith 
casts chains. Whoever is too impoverished for 
such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for 
himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will 
not totter. The irony or the description 
here is amazing. This God, who is this sovereign, 
is pictured, typified, represented, by things that there is a fear 
will totter." Verse 21, have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told for you 
from the beginning? Have you not understood from 
the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle 
of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches 
out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent 
to dwell in. Notice, verse 23, he brings the 
princes to nothing, he makes the judges of the earth useless. 
Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, 
scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when he will 
also blow on them and they will wither, and the whirlwind will 
take them away like stubble. To whom then will you liken me, 
or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. You see, God 
through Isaiah says, I am sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent. There 
is no possible way you can liken me to anything that your hands 
can fashion. So with reference to the making 
of idols, this qualification doesn't prohibit art, the explanation, 
what is in view, the theological rationale, let's fourthly apply 
this to Christ. Jesus said that God is spirit, 
but Jesus obviously was a man. Can't we typify or can't we represent 
or can't we make images of Jesus? Isn't that legit? I mean, just 
by way of a practical observation, which Jesus is it that we will 
accept? Is it buff Jesus of the Jehovah's 
Witness literature? You ever seen Jesus in the Watchtower, 
Bible, and Tract Society literature? He's coming out of the water 
after his baptism, and he's ripped, and he's got water glistening 
on his chiseled body. Or is it the emaciated Jesus 
of Romanism with the halo over his head? Is it the Jesus pictured 
in that Arminian photo or that Arminian painting where Jesus 
is knocking at the door of the heart? There's no handle because 
Jesus would never force himself on any unlikely soul. The handle's 
on the other side because the sinner always is sovereign and 
he must open to Jesus. Which Jesus will we represent? 
Which Jesus will we image for? Is it ripped Jesus of the Watchtower 
Society, emaciated Jesus of the Roman Catholic Church, or is 
it Arminian Jesus who can't use a doorknob because it's up to 
the sovereign sinner to let that Jesus in? Does the Bible, does 
the second commandment prohibit images of our Lord Jesus Christ? I argue, yes it does. The second 
commandment prohibits images of our Lord. In the first place, 
the second commandment unequivocally forbids making any likeness to 
represent deity. Certainly Jesus was a man. that 
certainly Jesus' manhood is one of the natures of the two that 
are the one person of our Lord Jesus. It's interesting as well, 
the scripture does not present an attractive Jesus. The scripture 
doesn't tell us Jesus was chiseled. The scripture doesn't tell us 
that Jesus had water glistening off his pecs. The scripture tells 
us specifically that he had no form or comeliness that we should 
look upon him. If we were walking down the street, 
we might not even look at him a second time. There was nothing 
in his humanity that screamed, I am Jesus. Thirdly, the Bible 
highlights his unique nature. Yes, he was a man, but the Bible 
tells us that he was much more than a man. And no image, no 
picture, no representation can capture the hypostatic union 
of the two natures in the one person. Listen to Watson. It is Christ's Godhead united 
to his manhood that makes him to be Christ. Therefore, to picture 
His manhood when we cannot picture His Godhead is a sin, because 
we make Him to be but half Christ. We separate what God has joined. 
We leave out that which is the chief thing which makes Him to 
be Christ. You cannot do this successfully. Again, her sinus says, because 
nothing but his humanity could be expressed by art. And those 
who make such images seem to establish again the error of 
Nestorius or Eutyches. These were two Christological 
errors. The Nestorians believed in a 
two-subject Christology. Eudaicheanism taught this confusion 
of the one nature. So you see, you end up with heresy 
when you do these sorts of things and you try to picture the Lord 
Jesus. And then as well, I would submit 
the Lord Jesus is to be set forth universally through preaching. 
It is through the preaching of the gospel. Notice what Paul 
says in Galatians 3.1. Galatians 3.1, 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 Jesus clearly portrayed 
among them? Through preaching. It wasn't 
through videos, it wasn't through picture books, it wasn't through 
that media. It was through the proclamation 
of the gospel. For since in the wisdom of the 
world, or in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did 
not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the 
message preached to save those who believe. William 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 adds, if any man be yet desirous 
of images, he may have at hand the preaching of the gospel, 
a lively image of Christ crucified. So does the second commandment 
apply to the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, it does. So we've seen the 
making of idols. Notice the worship of idols. 
You're not only not supposed to make them, but you shall not 
bow down to them nor serve them. So it necessarily follows. We 
can't make them and we can't bow down to them. Neither can 
we bow down to them if someone else makes them. Well, I didn't 
make it. I'm just bowing down to it. You're 
not supposed to bow down to idols. You're not supposed to worship 
idols. The Catholic Church has an interesting 
spin on this particular subject. They write, or they state in 
their encyclopedia, images are in common use in the Catholic 
Church. I realize not everybody was brought up as a papist. For 
those of you who were, This is no surprise to you. There's images 
everywhere. For you Protestants that were 
reared in a Protestant home and never have stepped foot into 
a Roman Catholic church, let me tell you, it is bedecked with 
images. It is bedecked. They're all over 
the place. Image after image after image. 
And they admit as much. 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. It's terrible. We're not supposed to set Christ, 
the Virgin, and the saints before our eyes with some visible representations. Notice what they go on to say. 
We do not worship the images themselves. The honor which we 
give these objects being referred to the persons whom they represent. So we're not really worshipping 
that statue. We're worshipping the Lord Jesus. 
We're worshipping him. This statue just helps us. Turretin 
rightly comments that by that logic, the Israelites dancing 
before the golden calf in Exodus 32 were perfectly legitimate 
to do so. Here Turatin, answering the question, 
I worship not this visible thing, but the divinity dwelling there 
invisibly. He says, 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 the image. So you see, if Catholicism is 
right, then that incident at Exodus 32 was right as well. But God certainly doesn't say 
that it's right. Moses certainly didn't sanction 
it. Moses didn't say, I like the way that you're expressing 
yourselves. No, it was a sin against the High King of Evek. 
So to say that the image is not worshipped, it's the deity behind 
the image, the Second Commandment forbids that. It prohibits that. Now notice, in the third place, 
the reasons given for the commandment. In the first place, the character 
of God. Notice, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. I Yahweh, your covenantal God, 
I am yours. I have entered into this arrangement 
with you. I have brought you to myself. You are my people. I am your 
God. And I am a jealous God. Calvin again says, as he performs 
all the duties of a true and faithful husband, of us in return, 
he demands love and conjugal chastity. I am a jealous God. I don't want you going out a 
whoring after other gods. I don't want you bowing to a 
mullah. I don't want you bowing to Baal. 
I don't want you worshipping yourself or worshipping your 
money. I have redeemed you. I have purchased you for myself 
and I demand from you loyalty. I demand from you chastity. So in the first place, God argues 
against idolatry by saying, I am the Lord your God. But notice 
in the second place, the curse and the blessing. Notice, visiting 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and 
fourth generations of those who hate me. Note the nature of idolatry. It is to hate God, isn't it? Who's he dealing with? Idolaters. This is a reason appended to 
the command of the prohibition. Don't engage in idolatry. Why? Because I'm your covenant God. 
Why? Because I will curse those who 
hate me. That's the nature of idolatry. It is to exchange the creature 
for the creator. It is to take and to worship 
that which is creature rather than the creator. The gravity 
of idolatry is seen here to those who hate me as well. We ought 
to understand when it says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children to the third and fourth generation of those who 
hate me, this is not a transgenerational curse. There are some odd things 
that come up in theology and in interpretation of scripture. 
There are those who believe that there are transgenerational curses. If I go out and do something 
horrible, then my children are cursed subsequent for my wicked 
act. I don't want to spend a lot of 
time. I realize it's very hot. Deuteronomy 24, 16 specifically 
indicates that in a criminal manner, a child does not get 
executed for the crime of his father. And then in Ezekiel 18, 
it is obvious, this is not an issue of transgenerational curse. Ezekiel 18, the people were saying, 
you know, The people of Israel were saying, the fathers have 
eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. In other 
words, Ezekiel's generation was saying, why are all these bad 
things happening to us? This was the sin of our fathers. 
They ate the sour and our teeth are set on edge. Why are we reaping 
this? We didn't do anything. Is this 
a transgenerational curse? No. God says in verse 4, Behold, 
all souls are mine. the soul of the father as well 
as the soul of the son, the soul whose sin shall die." There's 
no transgenerational curse. God specifies in verse 5 that 
a just man who does what he's supposed to do will not die. 
Verses 10 and following, a son who is wicked will die. Verses 
14 and following, a son who is righteous and does not follow 
the conduct of his father, he will not die. Behold, all souls 
are mine. The soul who sins shall die." 
There's no transgenerational curse. We don't have to pray 
over this, you know, situation to cast out the whatever's that's 
going to plague the children. Calvin nails it. He says, 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." 
It tends to happen. When a father worships Baal, 
typically his child will follow suit. Another reason for family 
religion, another reason for us to to teach our children the 
right and proper way. If we are not showing them what 
the worship of the true and living God is all about, they're going 
to go seek after something else. So this is not a transgenerational 
curse. It is not a genetic predisposition. It's not a cursed family. It 
simply highlights the perpetuity of idolatry through imitation 
and indicates the resultant punishment. So there's a curse, but there's 
a blessing. And notice. in the curse portion. Upon the 
children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate 
me. Verse 10, but showing mercy to thousands, probably of generations. Is this an indicator that we 
still have many, many more generations to go? I wouldn't want to argue 
that point. But notice that the mercy of 
God abounds. It descends or it plagues or 
it finds in curse upon the third and fourth generation, but showing 
mercy to thousands of generations, to those who love me and keep 
my commandments." So that's the exposition. In conclusion, in 
the first place, we ought to appreciate, with reference to 
the sin of idol-making, that first the image obscures the 
glory of Almighty God. It obscures the glory of Almighty 
God. You cannot bring God down and 
fashion or put a visible representation as a right representation of 
Him. The image as well misleads men. Jeremiah chapter 10 and verse 
8 tells us specifically that they are all together dull-hearted 
and foolish. A wooden idol is a worthless 
doctrine. The same thing is repeated in 
Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 14, I'm sorry, 18 and 19. The image-maker 
provokes the wrath of Almighty God. You put together that thing 
that you are going to claim represents God, what does he say? He says, 
my curse will be upon you to the third and fourth generations. And the image-maker attempts 
to make the invisible visible, make the incomprehensible comprehensible, 
make the omnipresent localized, make the spiritual physical. 
It is a rejection of Paul's emphasis that we walk by faith, not by 
sight. We are not to make images. That bespeaks a misunderstanding 
of the whole structure of the communicating God or the speaking 
God to the hearing person that responds in faith. Again, Ursinus 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. You 
see, this is something that the Catholic Church would employ. 
Well, you know, and ignorant people need images, and ignorant 
people need to see, and ignorant people that aren't book smart. 
No, you teach them how to read. You preach to them. They can 
hear. You certainly do that, rather 
than giving them an idol, which is going to be an albatross around 
their neck to lead them to the bottom of the ocean. It's absolute 
folly to kowtow to people and say, well, they're a visual people, 
they're artsy. We have to appeal to the artsy 
crowd using art in worship. No, we don't. If the artsy crowd 
is that wonderful, they ought to know how to listen and receive 
the word of God and walk by faith. It's not to denigrate the artsy 
people, but it's not to kowtow to them. Say, well, you know, 
I just respond better to the image. I respond better to the 
things that are seen. No, you need to respond in faith 
to the living God who speaks. Secondly, the sin of idol worship. The idol worship The idol worshipper 
dishonours Almighty God. The idol worshipper receives 
the curse of God and something I do not think we rightly understand 
is that the idol worshipper degrades himself. It is dehumanising. It is degrading. What does the 
psalmist say in Psalm 115 verse 8? Those who make them the idols, 
I think the implication as well is those who worship them will 
be like them. Did you ever notice that Israel 
is upbraided several times by the prophets and even by our 
Lord Jesus Christ for being stiff-necked? You stiff-necked people. Isn't that interesting? What 
is one of the characteristics of an ox or a cow or a calf? They're stiff-necked. They're 
a bit stubborn. You have to put something on 
them so that you make them go where they're supposed to go. 
It's probably an instance where the people of Israel have become 
like that which they worship. How many times is Israel condemned 
for having eyes that do not see, and having ears that do not hear, 
and hearts that do not receive the truth? Isn't that how Psalm 
115 goes? The idols have ears, but they 
hear not. The idols have eyes, but they 
hear not. You see, Israel has become like 
that which they worship. You see it in the idolatry with 
reference to substance abuse. The man who worships crack cocaine, 
the man who worships methamphetamine, what happens? He becomes like 
his idol. He becomes like that which he 
has attached himself to. It is degrading and it is dehumanizing. I agree wholeheartedly with G.K. 
Beale. What you revere, you resemble, 
either for ruin or for restoration. When we revere God, we are going 
to resemble Him in restoration. When we revere the idol, we will 
resemble it for ruin. I highly recommend Beal's book 
on idolatry, by the way. It's a biblical theology of idolatry. We become what we worship. And 
then in the third and final place, the corporate worship of the 
church. The church must approach God the way God says. The church is not at liberty 
to change things up. The church is not at liberty 
to introduce new things. The church must do what God says. We sing the Bible, we pray the 
Bible, we read the Bible, we preach the Bible, and we see 
the Bible in baptism and the Lord's Supper. We need to understand 
that the blessing that God gives with reference to true worship 
It's real. It's legit. It is good when we 
obey God. It is good when we worship the 
way that He specifies. It is good when we come to God 
on His terms. That's true worship. How do you define worship? Wow, 
I really felt the spirit. Wow, I was really encouraged. 
Wow, I was really built up. Perhaps we ought to ask the question, 
or we ought to make the statement, God was worshipped in truth. 
You see, the measure of worship is not us. The measure of worship 
is not our satisfaction. The measure of worship is not 
our fulfillment. It's not our batteries being 
charged. The measure of worship is, was 
God worship. And I submit that when that is 
in place, that's when blessing comes upon the people of God. And in the final place under 
this last heading, we ought to realize The necessity to reject 
will worship. Will worship. The Puritans use 
that terminology based on Colossians chapter two for those things 
that are introduced by man. You see, in the modern church 
today, I don't think our tendency is to build golden calves and 
to set them down on the altar up front and everybody bow down 
to it. I really don't think that's happening. I mean, I guess I 
could be surprised. You know, the weird and wacky 
happens a lot. I remember seeing, you know, in the last year, some 
pastor, you know, repelled into church, you know, some cable 
when he came to his pulpit. So if somebody was worshiping 
a golden calf, it wouldn't surprise me at this point. That's probably 
not our issue. Pictures of Jesus, I think, are 
a reality, but at least in Protestantism, they find their place in the 
Sunday school room where they shouldn't. but they're typically 
not up front. We don't have a big cross with 
the crucified Jesus on it. We're not bowing down to those 
things. It's will-worship. It's new means. It's new measures. It's new light. It's new creation, 
it's new things to stimulate and to satisfy and to stir up 
the worshiper. Fisher said, and so also are 
carnal imaginations of God in His worship as you may see. This 
is prohibited. And so also is all will worship 
or the worshiping of God according to our own fancy As you may see, 
1 Samuel 13, for those who were there on the Wednesday night 
Bible studies, what does Saul do? He doesn't wait for Samuel. Saul says, I got a hankering 
to worship, I'm going to worship. Samuel says, why didn't you wait? Because you were taking too long. That is wrong, you cannot undertake 
on your own behalf. It is condemned by God. Colossians 
2.23, talking about the asceticism preached by some. Paul says in 
23, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed 
religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are 
of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. This is will worship. This is the introduction of things 
that God has not commanded. the introduction of things that 
God has not authorized, the introduction of things that the church is 
really on dangerous ground when they start to present strange 
fire to the Lord God Most High. Fisher again says, whatsoever 
worships are instituted by men or do any way hinder God's true 
worship, they are contrary to this commandment. So brethren, 
that is what we need to be on guard against with reference 
to the corporate application of this Second Commandment. We 
could certainly draw out some personal illustrations or personal 
applications. You know, little children, keep 
yourselves from idols, is how John ends 1 John 5. The idol of self, the idol of 
money, the idol of whatever it is. It can be a good thing that 
we pervert and turn into a bad thing. The use of something that 
becomes the abuse of something. All of these things fall under 
these first and second commandments. which underscore how important 
it is that we worship the true and living God and that we worship 
him the way that he has commanded. And may this commandment drive 
us back to the cross because there's not a one of us who doesn't 
have some idolatry in our hearts. May we indeed flee to the Lord 
Jesus for forgiveness, for washing, for cleansing, for purification. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for the word of God and we thank you that it 
speaks so clearly and specifically to these issues. I pray that 
you would go with us and watch over us in this coming week. 
May you bless your people here. May you cause us to love and 
honor and serve you, and cause us to love and serve our fellow 
men. And we ask these things through Christ Jesus, our Lord. 
Amen.