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welcome to everyone you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 138 for our call to worship Psalm 138 I'll begin reading in verse 1 a psalm of David I will praise you with my whole heart before the gods I will sing praises to you I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth for you have magnified your word above all your name in the day when I cried out you answered me and made me bold with strength in my soul all the kings of the earth shall praise you O Lord when they hear the words of your mouth yes they shall sing of the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord though the Lord is on high yet he regards the lowly but the proud he knows from afar though I walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me you will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand will save me the Lord will perfect that which concerns me your mercy O Lord endures forever do not forsake the works of your hands amen well please turn in your hymn books to number 219 that's 219 will stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] amen well let us pray our God and Father what a joy and privilege it is to gather in your house again on the Sabbath evening we come before you and knowledge that you are the true and the Living God that you are from everlasting to everlasting that you are the Creator the governor and the Redeemer of your elect we acknowledge that your Father Son and Holy Spirit a glorious and a wondrous God worthy of praise and worship and adoration and Lord we pray that tonight as we approach you we would do so in spirit and in truth we pray for the aid in the the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit as we engage in worship for God we know that you are a great king and worthy of all that is that is in us and we would ask that you would help us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ help us Lord God to think concerning you alone in this glad hour and may you indeed encourage and strengthen our hearts and may you bless and cause us to to know the nearness of God as our good we confess our sins to you as we gather together we know that you are a holy God that your eye is too pure to approve of any evil and father we see ourselves even as the blood-bought children of God as those who come short as those who continue to battle with remaining corruption so we confess our sins unto you now praying that you would cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and we believe as Scripture teaches that if we confess you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness we own the fact that we have an advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous and thrown at your right hand and what a blessed encouragement this is not so that will go out and sin but when we do sin we have that blessed advocate and are in our place we ask that you would be merciful to any and all who come here tonight that are still dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that you would awaken them that your Holy Spirit would convict them and that your Holy Spirit would direct them to the Lord Christ may they believe on him and may they know the joy of being found in him for God certainly there is no greater blessing on this side of of heaven itself than to walk with the Savior to be redeemed by that precious blood to know the Lord God in a saving manner what a blessing this is we asked you would look with favor upon our children our young people we know God that this is a sin cursed world we know there is much by way of temptation we know there's much by way of availability in terms of sin and depravity and wickedness we pray that by your grace they would remember their Creator in their youth that they would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and that she would guard them that you would watch over them that she would hedge them in and keep them by your powerful grace and caused them to walk in newness of life we also pray our Father for those who are unable to be with us tonight we know there are many that are ill ill and not well and we just commit them to you into the word of your grace and pray that you would bless them even on their sick bed today may they know the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ and father we do pray for your blessing upon the the nations of the earth we know that we have been smiled upon greatly to live in this land we thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy we pray those freedoms would continue to be protected we would ask God that you would be merciful to those in high places that they would rule in a manner that is consistent with that that revealed law of the holy God of heaven and earth and father we pray this so that we may lead peaceable and quiet lives and are unable to continue to worship you if the opposition increases if it gets more serious in terms of persecution help us to stand fast help us to persevere help us to to truly find our refuge under the shadow of your wings and for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world that are going through great hardship even now we pray father that you would bless them richly we think of the various nations of the earth we think of them that the manner of oppression that is that is thrust upon the people of God and we would pray that you would undertake on their behalf that you would grant them grace that in the midst of these things they would never shrink back from declaring the whole Council of God that they would never back from following the Savior wherever he bids them and Lord God we pray that in these countries that more and more people would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with this increased oppression by the Chinese government we pray father that this would actually work out to the furtherance of the gospel we pray that more and more people in that nation would hear the truth as it is in Jesus and that more and more people would be called out of darkness into marvelous light that they would be able to turn their backs on that useless idol of communism and they would turn to the true and living God and know the joy of the Lord is their strength and our Father we pray for the preaching of the gospel in this city we ask that you bless the churches that are that are handling accurately your word we pray father that you would be merciful to sinners in this community and that you would save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray that in his most blessed name Amen well please turn with me again in your hymnbooks to number 233 hymn number 233 will stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] amen we can turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 19 for our scripture reading Genesis chapter 19 I'll begin reading in verse 1 now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom when lot saw them he rose to meet them and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground and he said here now my Lords please turn in to your servants house and spend the night and wash her feet then you may rise early and go on your way and they said no but we will spend the night in the open square but he insisted strongly so they turned in to him and entered his house then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate now before they lay down the men of the city the men of Sodom both old and young all the people from every quarter surrounded the house and they called to lot and said to him where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we may know them carnally so lot went out to them through the doorway shut the door behind him and said please my brethren do not do so wickedly see now I have two daughters who have not known a man please let me bring them out to you and you may do to them as you wish only do nothing to these men since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof and they said stand back then they said this one came in to stay here and he keeps acting as a judge now we will deal worse with you than with them so they pressed hard against the man lot and came near to break down the door but the men reached out their hands and pulled lot into the house with them and shut the door and they struck the man who were at the doorway of the house with blindness both small and great so that they became weary trying to find the door then the men said a lot have you anyone else here son-in-law your sons your daughters and whomever you have in the city take them out of this place we will destroy this place because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it so lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who had married his daughters and said get up get out of this place for the Lord will destroy this city the two his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking when the morning dawned the Angels urged lot to hurry saying arise take your wife and your two daughters who are here lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city and while he lingered the men took hold of his hand his wife's hand in the hands of his two daughters the Lord being merciful to him and they brought him out and set him outside the city so it came to pass when they had brought them outside that he said escape for your life do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed then lot said to them please no my Lords indeed now your servant has found favor in your sight and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains lest some evil overtake me and I died see now this city is near enough to flee - and it is a little one please let me escape there is it not a little one and my soul shall live and he said to him see I have favored you concerning this thing in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken hurry escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there therefore the name of the city was called ZOA the Sun had risen upon the earth when law entered ZOA then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens so he overthrew those cities all the plain all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground but his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt and Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord then he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and he saw and behold the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace and it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot had dwelt then lot went up out of Zohar and dwelt in the mountains and his two daughters were with them for he was afraid to dwell and Zohar and he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave now the firstborn said to the younger our Father is old and there is no man on the earth to come into us as is the custom of all the earth come let us make our Father drank wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our Father so they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went in and lay with her father and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose it happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger indeed I lay with my father last night let us make him drink wine tonight also and you go in and lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our Father then they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger arose and lay with them and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose thus both the daughters of lot were with child by their father the firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab he is the father of the Moabites to this day and the younger she also bore a son and called his name ban a me he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day amen now there are certainly some unsavory things in this particular chapter of Scripture but just a couple of thoughts as we navigate our way through it in the first place we need to remember that Peters testimony concerning lot is that he was a righteous man his soul was VAX day by day as he dwelt in this particular community as he dealt in the dwelt in this particular environment and then the second thing we ought to remember with reference to this this situation with lot and his daughters we have seen that God accomplishes his purpose in this world but God is not like a surgeon a surgeon before he operates uses or he has sterilized instruments there's no such thing as a sterilized instrument on this earth there's a lot of mess there's a lot of sin there's a lot of wickedness there's a lot of dysfunctionality and nevertheless God is working out his purposes in the midst of even these sorts of things without this situation described at the end of Genesis chapter 19 we would have no lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ there was a Moabite us in the line of Jesus and that Moabite us was called Ruth and if this daughter of Lotte had not done what she did with her father there would be no Moabites now I am NOT justifying this sort of activity whatsoever but simply pointing out that God takes crooked things and makes straight things out of them in his Providence he uses unsavory things to advance his cause because without unsavory things there would be nothing to use when we look at the families that that populate the book of Genesis the situation that we have seen with Jacob for instance the situation that we'll see later on in Judah and Tamar in chapter 38 there are some things that are somewhat perplexing to the 21st century Christian who wants the Bible as his ethical norm well certainly the Bible is our ethical norm but some of these passages are describing what occurred verses prescribing what ought to occur and the glorious thing is that God works in the midst of even these sorts of things and brings from it ruth the moabite us and ultimately the lord jesus christ well let us pray our Father we thank you for the written word we thank you that it is a blessed book and for our instruction and I pray that you would help us God as we work through these Old Testament narratives as we continue our studies in the book of Genesis on Wednesday night that you would help us to see your Providence to see how you work out your plan even using very imperfect means how we bless you and praise you for that and how we bless you and praise you that Christ came according to the promises in the Old Testament that he fulfilled all that was written of him and that he now sits enthroned at your right hand and we look forward to that time when he comes again in glory to judge the living in the dead may it be the case that all of us would be clothed in his righteousness and that we would all be prepared to meet him and we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well please turn with me for our final hymn to Psalm 99 a Psalm 99 a as in alpha when you find that you can stand and we'll sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] we can turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5 Deuteronomy chapter 5 continuing through the Ten Commandments we're in the second part of the second commandment so our focus is chapter 5 verses 8 to 10 we saw the positive aspect of the commandment the emphasis on true worship and the regulation of true worship and then we saw the prohibitions of the commandment it was twofold the making of idols and the worship of idols tonight we'll take up the reasons given for the second commandment but I'll read the section just to get it in front of us so beginning in chapter 5 at verse sex 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 and the jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's 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 observed 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 feel or his house his field his male servant his female servant his ox his donkey or anything that is your neighbors 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 father thank you for the the law of God it does reflect her it does tell us what kind of a God you are a God of absolute holiness a God of righteousness a God of justice and I pray that you would help us to internalize these things and help us God to frame our hearts our right and our conduct a right not according to what we think but according to what you have revealed to us again fill us with your Holy Spirit give us understanding into these things and help us Lord God to never engage in this wicked conduct or practice of idolatry and we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well in the first commandment we have a prohibition against worse at worshipping a false god in the second commandment we have a prohibition against worshiping the true God in a false way so commandment 1 calls us to worship the true and living God commandment 2 calls us to worship the true and living God in a way authorized by God when it comes to worship God is not for us innovating God is not for us creating God is not for us doing anything other than obeying him and as I said the positive aspect of the commandment emphasizes to us that worship is a reality but the way that we worship is as well a reality we need to be mindful of that in terms of the prohibition we're not supposed to make idols and we're certainly not supposed to bow down to or serve idols or worship idols now as I said tonight we'll look at the reasons for the second commandment and there are three of them first is the consideration of theology proper the second is a threat of punishment and the third is the promise of mercy you see how the text moves in that direction verse eight 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 there's the prohibition don't make idols don't worship idols and now the reason comes verse nine in the middle for I the Lord your God that's a consideration of theology proper am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me so that's the threat of punishment visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generation and then the promise of mercy is there at the end in verse 10 but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments so those are the reasons built in to the second commandment as to why we are prohibited from making or worshipping an idol so let's look first at this consideration of theology proper God says I the Lord your God am a jealous God in the first place he is our covenant Lord remember that chapter 5 verse 6 is the preface to the commandments and in verse 6 God identifies himself as Yahweh your covenant God I am the one who has redeemed you remember the situation that obtained for the children of Israel they were in bondage they were in slavery they were in Egypt for for a long period of time and the Lord comes powerfully to redeem them from that place and so a consideration of who God is covenant Lord the Yahweh of Israel that ought to affect us in such a way that we respond to him with appropriate worship and with appropriate adoration now the attempt to image God is an affront to him when he says for I the Lord your God am a jealous God that indicates that it is in fact something that he despises and something that he detests I quoted her sinus two weeks ago he says with reference to God how offensive it is to make an image he says 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 when we try to picture or to image God we are explicitly taking him down and trying to conceptualize him in a way that is appropriate in our minds it really is an attempt to recreate God in our image to recreate God in a way that is absolutely positively on unthinkable with reference to the divine majesty so by virtue of the fact that he is the Lord our God noticed that personal pronoun I am the Lord your God as a result of that relationship that we have as a result of that relationship of union that we have don't make for yourself an idol but then he goes on to identify himself as a jealous God I want to spend just a couple of moments here this is theology proper when I say theology it simply means the study of God when we say theology proper it focuses per us specifically on who God is and when the Bible tells us that God is a jealous God we need to put our thinking caps on for just a moment and realize that this is an expression accommodated to us jealousy is a passion it's not always a wicked passion it's a passion however it suggests movement from one state to another now we know from Scripture that God is unchangeable we know from Scripture that God is impassable we know from Scripture there's no shadow of turning there's no variant with reference to God I the Lord and Malachi 3:6 he says I the Lord do not change so when you see this language applied to God that he is jealous it's applied in several other instances in the Old Testament we ought to understand it as what's called an improper predication now before you tune out just pay attention for a moment there are things that are applied to God that are comedy patience and this aspect of jealousy is one of them God doesn't move from one state to another God doesn't have affections God doesn't have any passions God doesn't react God isn't the sort of God that that we are the sort of creatures that we are so it's what's called an improper predication that means it's improperly predicated of God that he's jealous but it does teach us something concerning the truth of who God is I think what we're supposed to understand when it says that God is a jealous God were supposed to understand something of his righteousness and of his justice in fact let me just quote two brothers in the past that can help us with this Ezekiel Hopkins says this jealousy is not to be ascribed unto God as if there were properly any such weak and disturbing passion in him but only by way of accommodation and similitude speaking after the manner of men there are instances in the Bible where we see this take place when the Bible tells us that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth none of us ever I hope thinks of a bunch of little eyes coming from God and sort of scurrying about in the earth when God says I'm going to demonstrate my powerful or I'm going to bear my mighty right arm God is spirit he doesn't have a body like man we call that sort of language a throw or anthropomorphism it's the ascription of bodily parts to God we know he doesn't have eyes we know he doesn't have hands we know he doesn't have feet because God is spirit but those things demonstrate or accommodate themselves to us we think of the the mighty right arm we think of you know an 18 or 19 inch bicep we think of strength and power and that's what's supposed to be understood when God manifests or demonstrates the might of his right arm well the same thing with passions when the Bible says in Ezekiel 6 when God says to the nation of Judah he says you've broke my heart well that is a manner or speaking in the manner of men it is an accommodation for us to see the grief that Israel has caused by her said unto our great God but it's not to suggest that the passions are a part of God it's an improper predication in the language of Ezekiel Hopkins it's speaking after the manner of men just like to say that God has eyes or to say that God has an arm it's the same to say that God is jealous it's not the case that he's given to these fits and changes the way that we are but it does convey to us in the manner of man something concerning God he's righteous he's just and he has no truck whatsoever with idolatry listen to Spurgeon Spurgeon says jealousy is selected as some faint picture of that tender regard which God has for his own deity honor and supremacy and the holy indignation which he feels towards those who violate his laws offend his majesty or impeach his character not that God is jealous so as to bring him down to the likeness of man see whenever you talk about God you've got to talk about God in a God authorized way and if the Bible uses these sorts of things this speaking in the manner of man it's good for us to understand that it's good for us to recognize that and it's good for us so that we don't bring God down to our level this is language of accommodation back to Spurgeon not that God is jealous so as to bring him down to the likeness of men but that this is the nearest idea we can form of what the divine being feels and then he says if it be right to use even that word toward him now you have to understand what Spurgeon is doing when we talk about God brethren we're talking about somebody some thing some object I don't mean to sound belittling something outside of our chain of being as I've said often times we have this concept that God is man writ large we have this concept that God is just a better version of men and that's absolutely positively not the case God is the creator he alone occupies that genus or that species and we are creature there is a vast chasm between us and there is a great distinction so in our talk about God we need to use the talk that the Bible for calls us to and to understand the way that we are to engage in such discussion so he says this is the nearest idea we can form of what the divine being feels if it be right to use even that word toward it this idea of feeling it's again that's not how God is there's not feelings on Thursday that he didn't have on Friday the doctrine of divine impossibility tells us that's not the case he's not given to any increase any diminishment there's nothing whether external or internal that moves God to a different spot or to a different position or to a different place he goes on to say this is how we understand what he feels when he beholds his throne occupied by false gods his dignity insulted and his glorious usurped by others we cannot speak of God except by using figures drawn from his works or our own emotions we ought however when we use the images to caution ourselves and those who listen to us against the idea that the infinite mind is really to become pastand described by any metaphors however lofty or language however weighty in other words when we talk about God we need to make sure that we understand that we're talking about God we're not talking about a super version of man he then says we might not have ventured to use the word jealousy in connection with the Most High but as we find it so many times in Scripture let us with solemn a survey this mysterious display of the divine mind so this aspect of God's jealousy again it's speaking in the manner of man but the truth that it reveals to us is God's righteousness God's justice and God's desire for the glory of his name and the reality as he says through the prophet Isaiah I will not give my glory to another I will not share my glory with another now as we consider this improper predication this speaking in the manner of men jealousy suggests a great deal to us as I said jealousy is not always wicked fact when your husbands are jealous of your honor ladies that is a good consistent image bearing of God now it can be generate and devolve into something sinful something obsessive and something vile and wretched but every man in here ought to be jealous of his wife's dignity and honor every wife here ought to be jealous of their husband's dignity and honor all of us should be jealous at the thought of an encroachment in that closest of covenantal blondes it's not the case that it's godly to not be jealous it's godly to be jealous it images God in this aspect of justice and righteousness so long as it doesn't degenerate into sin in fact turn to the book of Proverbs for just a moment as we illustrate this particular figure of speech that God uses to highlight the seriousness of the crime of adult idolatry and if you happen to miss everything that I was saying then just in that last few minutes about improper predication I should put the context we've dealt with that sort of stuff in our church we've dealt with the concept of theology proper we were a part of an association that had to deal with the doctrine of divine impossibility through Sunday school and through sermons and through all those two things we tried to educate persons with reference to the proper and improper way no pun intended of speaking about God so that's kind of the context if you're interested or curious more about that improper predication just give me a call or email or see me afterwards but in proverbs 630 we see something of of this jealousy on a human level now again the jealousy of God has some parallel with the jealousy of a husband not exact because husbands and their jealousy aren't always righteous and pure but the jealousy of God has some analogy or parallel with the jealousy of a husband a husband who loves his wife is jealous of her attention to him alone yeah and I think this is all very self evident but this is the means by which God argue in the second commandment proverbs 6:30 people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving yet when he is found he must restore seven full 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 and his reproach will not be wiped away 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 notice in verse 33 wounds and dishonor he will get where does he get that from the offended husband because the husband's jealousy has been compromised because this man has entered into that covenant bond and he has dissolved it of course the man is angry of course that that justice and that righteousness is going to be revealed notice Solomon doesn't say and how dare him ever do that no this is sort of a no-brainer in God's world if somebody steals they have to pay back if somebody engages in adultery they're gonna get whatever they've got coming to them because jealousy is a husband's fury you know I want to quote John Gill here he says jealous concerning God of his own honor and glory and will not give it to another even to graven images nor suffer it to be given to them without resenting it and jealousy is fierce and cruel and breaks forth into great wrath and issues and dreadful scenes oftentimes among men and as a man that has reason to be jealous of his wife and especially if he takes her and the adulterer in the fact it often costs them both their lives being so enraged at such an insult upon him and such a violation of the marriage bed and thus the great Jehovah the God of Israel their head and husband is represented in order to deter from idolatry or spiritual adultery than which nothing could be more provoking to him and as I've said there's a lot of sins covered in the Bible there's a lot of sins condemned in the Bible but one that comes up frequently and often and with a special hatred by God is idolatry having another God before or having him and attempting to worship him in a false way so I think we all get the first commandment I think if you ask any Christian what's the first commandment demand the first commandment demands that we worship the true and living God it's the second one that we want to spin it's the second one that we want to modify it's the second one that we want to say well it really doesn't matter if we introduce this into the public worship of God it most certainly does matter and God has prescribed such in the second commandment so we need to make sure that we're not only worshiping the true and living God but we're worshiping the true and living God in the correct manner the second reason for the commandment is the threat of punishment going back to Deuteronomy 5 he says for I the Lord your God am a jealous God and then he says visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me now this convention is used in several places we see it in the parallel in Exodus chapter 20 we see an exodus 34:7 numbers 14 and then in Jeremiah 32 this idea of visiting the iniquity of those generations and then rewarding with mercy the other generations now this text is intriguing because it oftentimes is associated with what we'll call a trans generational curse now perhaps you've never met these people they typically are in charismatic churches or Pentecostal churches or some sort of fringe element of the Christian Church they have this concept of this doctrine of a transgenerational curse that if your fathers or your forefathers did horrible things then basically the wrath and fury and curse of God is still on you and they invoke this particular passage as the proof text I mean isn't that what God says look at what he says visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me you see what he what he's saying that that's a transgenerational curse it's not a transgenerational curse I think the emphasis is is that when children of their idolatrous parents worshipping idols then more often than not children imitate children ate children follow that particular train and day to worship idols in fact just so you can see that this doesn't teach a transgenerational curse just in the event that you happen to meet these people you can turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 24 Deuteronomy chapter 24 just so we can see that this doesn't teach a trans generational curse that abides on persons for the sins of their fathers imagine getting a great big dose of that imagine somebody telling you well you know bad things are gonna continue to happen to you because of your dad because of your grandpa and because of your great grandpa tuff too bad for you that's a pretty discouraging place to be isn't it when you cannot fix things because your parents were terrible is that really what God is teaching in this particular instance well in the first place with riff reference to civil or criminal activity this principle does not hold look at 24:15 lawrence are 24:16 fathers shall not be put to death for their children nor shall children be put to death for their fathers a person shall be put to death for his own sin very simple isn't it you're not going to be executed because your father is a murderer you're not going to be executed because your father is a bank robber you're not going to be executed because your father is a terrible specimen of a human being in the principle of civil jurisprudence this does not obtain it's not the case that sons are punished for the crimes of their parents you see a real live illustration of this in the book of second Kings Amaziah execute those who had conspired to murder his father but he doesn't execute their children he only executes them in fulfillment of this particular text and then turned to Ezekiel chapter 18 just to show that this does not deal with a transgenerational curse try to show what it does deal with and how grave the situation is in Ezekiel 18 you got to remember the prophet Ezekiel and the particular time frame what's happening at the time that Ezekiel is prophesying is the Babylonian captivity the Babylonians along with Nebuchadnezzar or rather under Nebuchadnezzar had marched upon the city of Jerusalem they had destroyed the city they had destroyed the temple and they had taken many Judah heights away into captivity into Babylon and now in Ezekiel chapter 18 the people of Judah are complaining as they were often want to do and if you look at Ezekiel 18 verse 1 the word of the Lord came to me again saying what do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge see what's happening in Judah they're saying we're in this mess because of our fathers we're in this mess because of our grandfathers we're in this mess because of those who ate sour grapes but the children's teeth are the ones that are set on edge now this should be a great place for God through the prophet Ezekiel to highlight the reality of transgenerational dirts she see does just the opposite he tells them that that's not the case you are not being punished here in Babylon because of the sins of your fathers you are being punished because of your own sins - you're not guiltless you're not innocent you're not a group of people that only ever did what the Lord God had commanded you have violated and transgressed the Covenant just as well as they did and then he gives several illustrations of this but after having given the principle in verse 4 verse 4 he says behold all souls are mine the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine the soul who sins shall die that's the principle the soul who sins shall die so those that were dying in Judah at the time couldn't blame their fathers but it was their sin and then in verses 5 to 9 he says if a man is just and does what he's supposed to do everything's great he then says in verses 10 to 13 if that man that righteous man be that's a son who is a robber or a shudder of blood or any of these things then that son will be punished and then in verses 14 to 17 he says if however a godless man a wicked man begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done and considers but does not do likewise thank God essentially says I have no beef with that the soul that sins dies but when it comes to this principle with reference to idolatry again I think it's imitation if we as fathers if we as mothers bow down to something that isn't the true and living God we are teaching our children that and when they ape or imitate that and they rise up they will be visited with God's punishment and judgment that's what's happening in this text Calvin says but when God declares that he will cast back the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom and 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 father's upon their children and descendants with the provision that they too may be justly punished as being imitators of their fathers that's what's happening not a transgenerational curse you know my grandfather and great-grandfather served bail but I still want to serve Yahweh well you can't because you're under the curse that is unbiblical that is faulty that does not accurately reflect the emphasis in the second commandment Stuart a modern commentator says this oft repeated theme speaks of God's determination to punish successive generations for committing the same sins they learned from their parents so going back to the commandment let us draw out two practical applications first as parents we bear a great responsibility to teach our kids of the true and living God that's the identified object of worship according to the scripture it is Yahweh of Israel through the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit that triune God who is from everlasting to everlasting that triune God who made the war who governs the world that God who redeems his elect out of the world that's the God we need to teach to our children but as well we need to teach them to worship that true and living God in the right way God is not approving of those sorts of things that are according to the imaginations of men according to the suggestions of Satan according to what we think he might like no we are authorized to do that which God commands in the public worship of God we are not authorized to do that which he doesn't command were not authorized to even do that which he doesn't forbid he doesn't forbid us setting a fire right here and warm it we don't do it it's not commanded we are called to read the word we're called to preach the word we're called to pray the word we're called to see the word and the sacraments were called to be about the word this is God's emphasis in Deuteronomy for you saw no form you saw no shape you saw no object this is why the prohibition against idolatry but you heard the voice of Yahweh your God so the first emphasis or application at this point is that we as parents bear quite a responsibility in teaching our children the true and saving religion teach them theology proper teach them how to worship that true and living God but a second observation or application at this point is look at what God says in this text in the second commandment he says for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me you see what God says in terms of idolatry you see what God says in terms of worshiping the true God in a false manner not only are you not being into innovative and creative in a way that God is pleased with but you are actually hating him this is an expression of detestation false worship in the presence of the true God is an act of hatred on the part of the creature to it that's not a mistake that's what God says that's his sort of indictment on the situation to though to hate me to exchange the true and living God for that which is created or to worship the true and living God in a manner that that we find uh provable but not that God authorizes is an act of hatred against the living and the true God now I just want to show a couple of illustrations of those who reaped judgment as a result of the way they worship probably the most popular is Leviticus chapter 10 Leviticus chapter 10 popular familiar probably is a better way to say it I doubt we're all popularly celebrating the death of nade a band a by who but we're certainly familiar with it but if you remember the situation in Leviticus 10th it follows Leviticus one to nine I know that's some pretty cutting-edge exegesis it's like you know six o'clock on a Sunday afternoon but but there's a reason for that in Leviticus chapters 1 to 9 Israel is taught how to approach a holy God see that's the problem that we see between Exodus and Leviticus the end of Exodus God the shuk Shekinah glory comes down on the tabernacle the the glory of God descends and it's present it at the the tabernacle no one in Israel can go into that tabernacle not even Moses and of the lot Moses is the godliest to see Exodus ends with this problem God is in the midst of his people but his people can't approach him come enters the book of now enters the Book of Leviticus how do we get from this place of God dwelling in the midst of us for us to be able to now meet with him and so Leviticus 1 to 9 is detailed legislation on how to approach this God there's a whole series of sacrifices there's a whole way prescribed on how Israel is to come before this holy God and so in Leviticus 1 2 9 they get this detailed legislation at the end of chapter 9 they put it into practice and then God sends fire down to consume their sacrifice notice in chapter 9 at verse 22 then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people bless them and came down from offering the sin offering the burnt offering in peace offerings and Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out excuse me and blessed the people then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar when all the people saw it they shouted and fell on their faces I don't think it was a shout of Terror I think it was a shout of joy a shot of Thanksgiving a shout of rejoicing because God had consumed their sacrifice and it was a blessed time of worship they followed the prescription that God gave in Leviticus 1:9 a one two nine how they were to approach God God shows his approbation and receives their sacrifice and then chapter 10 verse 1 then a DAB and a by who the sons of Aaron each took his censer and put fire in it put incense on it and offered profane fire before the Lord which he had not commanded them you have to get this you have to hear it when I say God doesn't want innovation he doesn't want creativity he wants obedience not just in the Old Covenant but in the New Covenant as well these things I write to you so that if I'm delayed you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God the Church of the Living God which is the pillar and ground of the truth that's in first timothy 3:15 in hebrews chapter 12 we need to come to god in an acceptable manner well who defines an acceptable manner do we let sinners well for sinners they might say an acceptable manner is about a 20-minute service because you know I'd like to go to the lake on Sunday after church and and and I like to go have you know some dinner at white spot I like to have my day sort of tailored around my needs and my desires so if we let sinners pick out how worship is going to be I guarantee you it's probably not going to be preaching on theology proper on the jealousy of God on improper predication on who God is and how God wants to be worship we want to do things that please us and yet when we find in the scripture we are to do that which God commands and that is conspicuous which he has not commanded them verse two says so fire went out from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord and Moses said to Aaron this is what the Lord spoke saying by those who come near me I must be regarded as Holy and and before all the people I must be glorified that be a good text to reflect upon on a Sunday morning when we come into the house of the Living God it is to have dealings with this Living God and we need to treat him as holy we need to regard him with the dignity that the Bible demands and then one other passage just to show the punishment of God on those who violate his worship ordinance turn to 1st Samuel 13 1st Samuel chapter 13 I mean we could trace through the history of Israel there was a lot of violations at this very point but just a couple to show some temporal judgment that fell upon those who distorted the very worship of God Most High in 1st Samuel 13 Saul is the king and Samuel tells Saul to wait for me I'm going to see you and in verse 8 we read 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 it happened 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 hey good for you you took it upon yourself to worship that's not what he said it was forbidden this was godlessness this was lawlessness Jesus Christ as a priest King the kings of Judah and Israel were not priests he was not authorized to bring the sacrifice verse 11 Samuel said what have you done Saul said when I saw that the people were scattered from me not think about this it may even be with good motivation or good intention a we thought we could entertain and thus get them to questions about the gospel and bring them into the camp see the the motivation or the the intentions might be decent or legitimate in this instance it sounds like Saul wants to sort of you know appeal to the people and keep them from you know getting unranked he says back in verse verse 11 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 make mash then I said the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal and I have not made supplication to the Lord therefore I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering was so right Saul was wrong I felt compelled I'm sorry Saul you can't suspend the proper worship of the living and true God because of a feeling that you had I would suggest that it's this that frames and formulates much of what passes for Christian worship today I felt I felt I felt rather than God has said this is the way we are supposed to worship Him we are not to play games with this particular commandment see what happens in terms of God visiting the iniquity of this particular man verse 13 Samuel said to Saul you have done foolishly Samuel doesn't say well I respect your feelings I respect this kind this compelling that you had and and I'm glad that you he doesn't do that here approves him 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 a for now the Lord would have established her 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 so it's no joke and it's no small thing to worship the true and living God in a false way and then the third reason we see the consideration of theology proper the threat of punishment and then the promise of mercy and what a promise it is verse 10 says but showing mercy thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments look at the difference in the previous section visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me third and fourth but here showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments or sinus says whereas he threatened punishment only to the fourth generation he here extends his mercy to thousands that so he might declare that he is more inclined to show mercy than wrath and this is a provocation to his people or an incitement to them to love him and to worship it and to adore him it is the revelation of who God is in this very promise he shows mercy to thousands and I think generations is probably an apt way to understand that it shows the blessed fullness of God's mercy to those who love Him to those who keep his Commandments again not innovators not creators not those who offer up strange fire but those who take scripture seriously and obey what God says concerning the approach to him through the son the Lord Jesus Christ the ones justified freely by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who love God those who keep his Commandments just a few New Testament passages to underscore this John 14:15 if you love me keep my Commandments Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and then first John 5:3 for this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and His commandments are not burdensome well thus concludes our exposition of the commandment let's just finish with a few thoughts and then we'll close first of all the sin of idolatry in terms of the making of idols if we engaged in making idols how does that violate well it violates obviously the explicit teaching of the tax but it also obscures the glory of God Almighty see when it comes to worse we're supposed to glorify God and enjoy him forever not obscure his glory not trying to hide it not try to fashion it in a manner that is approved by us but rather we are to stand in awe at what scripture says concerning God secondly the image miss leads men images do not teach the truth of the true and the Living God thirdly the image maker provokes the wrath of Almighty God as we see in this particular commandment and then the image maker attempts to make the invisible visible God is invisible that means we cannot see him with the eye but when we make images we are trying to make invisible so if definitionally one of the things that God is is that he's invisible if we try to make invisible than you see the problem we're distorting the very image of God himself as well we seek to make the incomprehensible comprehensible when Jeroboam the son of Nebat said these are your gods that led you out of the land of Egypt it is to try and make the omnipresent localized to make the spiritual physical it is ultimately a rejection of the principle and shrouded by Paul that we walk by faith and not by sight but consider the fact that when we worship idols something bad happens okay something really bad happens when we engage in idol worship GK Beale in his excellent book on idolatry and it sounds weird an excellent book on idolatry almost sounds like he teaches you how to be a good idea term basically it's a biblical theology of idolatry anybody's interested in this in further detail G K G K Beals book on this is really good but sort of a central thesis for Bill is what you Revere you resemble either for ruin or for restoration listen to that one more time what you Revere what you worship you resemble either for ruin or for rest or a when we Revere the true and living God we are restored or are in the process of restoration when we Revere that which is an idol when that which is a creature we are doing so to our ruin in fact psalm 115 that passage that teaches us concerning the futility of idols psalm 115 8 says those who make them are like them so is everyone who trusts in that we take on the very characteristics of the idols that we worship intriguingly Israel worshiped Cavs what was one of the indictments of the prophets against Israel they were stiff necked well isn't that characteristic of a calf or of an ox you have to put a yoke on it to control it well when is real worships she becomes like that which she worships it really has a degrading effect upon a person I think you only need to look outside watch the news for about 30 seconds and see the degradation that obtains to those who worship something other than the true and living God when you worship and serve the Creator a creature rather visa vie the environmentalism which is which has become the gospel of liberals and Democrats everywhere when you do that it has an effect upon you you are distorted with the way that you perceive reality and if you want further proof of that again turn on the news for about 30 seconds and watch and see what happens 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 another observation we're going to close in just a moment is the importance of corporate worship in other words if there is a commandment that speaks specifically to how we worship God that should encourage us with the thought that how we worship God is important and when we look at Scripture there is this emphasis on corporate worship and that it must be engaged in and that it must be engaged in properly consider a few passages Psalm 87 to Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Ephesians 2:19 2:22 now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens with the Saints and the men and members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit do you ever come to church conscious of the fact that when we gather here it is the dwelling place of God in the spirit man I think if we came to grips with that reality it would probably invigorate our worship it would vitalize our worship when we understand that we collectively the people of God the blood-bought children of God are the dwelling place of God in the spirit and that we see not the building but the church is the people believers the blood-bought children of God is the temple or dwelling of God this would hopefully encourage us in terms of David's report I was glad when they said unto me let us go to the house of the Lord and then that section in Hebrews 12 this good place to end you can turn to Hebrews chapter 12 it's an emphasis on New Covenant worship if there is a commandment given prescribing acceptable worship to the living and true God then that should reinforce in our minds how important the worship of the true and the Living God is if I were to ask you and I'm not so don't raise your hand and don't call out but what's your favorite command you have a commandment you're really looking forward to in this series maybe you haven't even thought of that some people might say oh the fourth commandment that's kind of make makes us different than everybody else we actually believe that there's a fourth commandment or you know we might think of the seventh commandment not only is environmentalism sort of being pushed on us sexual perversion is sort of being pushed on us we need a good recovery of that do any of us ever say the pure worship of God the glory of God the exaltation of God the the majesty of God and it gets shared with you in the last several years we saw a particular Christian leader basically you know have fellowship with what's called a modal ystem an who denies the Trinity and you know a few Christians grumbled about that but no one was really bent out of shape but when that self same man found out to be a guilty of plagiarism I mean that was scandal of scandals that was the most horrible thing in the world now I'm not suggesting plagiarism is okay I'm not suggesting go out and steal material and put your name on it and turn it into your your teachers I'm not saying that but what I am suggesting is that when he's sitting with a man who denies the Trinity and just a few voices grumble about that but then he plagiarizes and everybody freaks out about that it shows something concerning our priority structure it's not that the second table is unimportant but it is the case that the first table is first and God should always come first when it comes to the thinking of his people Hebrews 12 verse 22 but you have come now he's talking to believers who were physically alive he's not talking about when they die and then this takes place he's talking about New Covenant worship in what follows in this section you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly and for a church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God the judge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel see that you do not refuse him who speaks for if they did not escape who refuse to him who spoke on earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven whose voice then shook the earth but now he is promised saying yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken made me may remain now notice the implication in verse 28 after having talked about New Covenant worship the glory of it he says therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us have grace by which we may serve God except ibly with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire the second commandment calls us to that and as the Church of Jesus Christ we should be about that we should guard against profane fire we should guard against innovation in worship we should guard against anything that would be an affront to the true and the Living God he is the object of worship and he prescribes the manner in which we are to worship and it's centered on his work well I hope that that will be an encouragement to us to guard our hearts to guard our minds and to seek by God's grace to have an approach to him that is that is in accordance with what he authorizes and the the primary way of approach to God obviously is faith in Jesus if we're not believers we will not worship in spirit and truth the way to worship in spirit and truth is first and foremost to look unto Jesus Christ to believe on Him who lived in obedience to the father's law who died as a sacrifice and a substitute on the cross and who was raised the third day so that everyone who by God's grace looks to him in faith will have everlasting life and it will be their reflex it will be their their default setting to want to worship that God in the manner that he prescribes well let us pray our Father we thank you for your word and we thank you for these Commandments we know God were not saved by keeping them but we have been saved by your grace in order that we may walk according to these things Jesus prayed sanctify them by thy truth thy Word is truth and I pray the very same thing that your Holy Spirit would write these things in our hearts that you would cause us to reflect upon them and cause us to appreciate not only who you are but how we are supposed to worship you and we pray now that you would go with us watch over us in this coming week and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen you