I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to our text. We'll be considering two places. First of all, Daniel 11, verses 38 through 39. And we spent a few weeks in these verses. And I anticipate we'll probably spend one more week. But nevertheless, Daniel 11, verses 38 through 39, first of all. But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces and a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange God whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain. And then in the New Testament, Galatians chapter three, verse one. Galatians three, one says, oh foolish Galatians who have bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. Does the New Testament support the use of images in worship, images of God, the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, or images in worship of martyrs or saints from the past? Well, that's the question that we will seek to answer this Lord's Day. We saw last Lord's Day that God in the second commandment that is found in Exodus chapter 20, the second commandment, forbids the making of images that represent him. And secondly, God forbids the bowing down to images that represent him. and serving them, venerating them, honoring them as acts of worship. God forbids it. All pictures, all images, all movies that claim to portray and represent God, the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, I submit to you are lies. They're lies. Finite man, like you and me, finite man, cannot with his hands, cannot with modern technology portray the truth about the one true living God that is infinite, that has no boundaries, that has no limitations, that is almighty and is eternal. The prophet Isaiah, says the following in Isaiah 40 verse 18. To whom then will ye liken God? And notice, or what likeness will ye compare unto him? What likeness? What image? What picture? What similitude will you present to represent the almighty infinite God? There is none. It's a rhetorical question. There is none. And we are not to do so. We're not to pretend to do so. So the question, I guess, is how are we to see Jesus today? At this present time, how are we to see Jesus? Are we to see Jesus by our natural sight? To behold Jesus in images, in pictures, in movies? Or are we to behold Jesus by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ? That's the question we'll seek to answer by God's grace today. And our main points are these. First of all, There is no credible evidence of images made or used for worship in the New Testament. We considered the Old Testament last Lord's Day, we're looking at the New Testament this Lord's Day. And the second main point, there is no credible evidence of images made or used for worship among the church fathers before 313 AD. So our first main point, there is no credible evidence of images made or used for worship in the New Testament. From our text in Daniel chapter 11, and just to be able to tie it into our text, according to Daniel 11.38, the papal king will, quote, honor the God, or a God, of forces, the Hebrew word mauzim is used there. We have noted that that word is used, can be used in a military sense and we looked at the various military campaigns in history that relate to the papacy and the papacy calling for wars, military campaigns against those who oppose the papacy throughout history. But there's another sense in which that Hebrew word ma'azim may be used as well, and it's in a religious sense. And in the religious sense, it speaks of this papal king honoring the God of forces and Ma'uzim in that sense refers to protectors. Forces refers to protectors, refers to patrons. Patrons are protectors, guardians. And in history, again, the papal king has honored, exalted protectors, patron saints, that have been appointed and divided amongst the nations, that there are patron saints for every nation. There are patron saints for cities. There are patron saints for every circumstance and situation in life. There are patron saints in all of these circumstances to whom, again, it is alleged their great power is given to these patron saints to be able to rule, to be able to govern, to be able to come to the help and the aid of people who pray to them. The angel in Daniel 11 tells Daniel that this is a God that the forefathers of the papal king, that is the apostles, knew nothing about. And that is true. This is a great departure. This is a great apostasy from the apostolic faith. And then in verse 39 of Daniel 11, We continue reading there, and the papal king will build fortresses, it says. It will build fortresses or cathedrals, temples, for these patron saints. That will be housed within them will be a strange god, again adorned with precious stones which their fathers knew not. Strange. A strange God, not in the sense of weird, but strange in the sense that, as I said, unfamiliarity of the apostolic fathers with these patron saints and the images that are made unto them, at least for the first 300 years. Gradually it began to be introduced subsequently. In Galatians chapter three, so that was just hopefully to be able to remind us what we're doing here in seeking to understand the use of images, whether again, that is something that is approved of by God or disapproved of by God, because again, the papal king approves of images. of images and of of father son or holy spirit approves of images of saints of of martyrs of angels in worship but it was not the case for the for about 300 years after the apostles so in galatians 3 1 there is again the word of the lord and This particular verse is interpreted by the papal king to indicate that an image of Jesus upon the cross being crucified was what the Galatians were told by Paul to look upon. That's what they were to see. O foolish Galatians who have bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. So again, the position of the papal king, the church of Rome is that this refers to them beholding with their natural eyes an image of Jesus crucified upon the cross. Let me first, before delving into, I think, what that verse actually teaches, just give you a very brief overview of the letter of Paul to the Galatians. Paul's letter to the Galatian churches, is a clear proclamation of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of Jesus Christ, that was being perverted and corrupted by false teachers at that time, who were coming from out of Judaism into Christianity. These false teachers claim that one could only be justified, declared righteous before God. by believing in Christ, yes, but also by adding to faith in Christ, obedience to the law, that one must first keep the law of God in order to be declared righteous before God. Faith plus works, not faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, but faith plus works. That was what these Judaizers were teaching. But Paul declares in no uncertain terms that that is a false gospel. It is not good news at all to believe and then say that I must in addition add my good works. in order to be justified and declared righteous before God. That's not good news because none of us can keep God's law. None of us can keep God's law perfectly. All of us will fall short of God's law. All of us will therefore stand condemned before God, a righteous and a holy judge. if we are to be declared righteous on the basis of not only faith in Christ, but in addition, our obedience to God's law. Because again, even if it was only hypothetically or what was being taught here by these Judaizers, these false teachers, that they had to be circumcised. from the Old Testament law, they had to be circumcised in order to be declared righteous. Paul says that if you add anything, even one thing, beyond faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone, then you are obligated to keep the whole law of God, not just that one law. He says in Galatians 5, verses one through three, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. The yoke of bondage would be to be justified on the basis of works of obedience on our part. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law, not just circumcision. But if we're going to be justified on the basis of one law, how can we simply eliminate all the other law of God? We have to keep it all and not just keep it generally speaking, we have to keep it perfectly because God does not grade on a curve. Paul says that's not the gospel. That's not the good news. The good news is found in chapter two, Galatians verse 16, where Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, declared righteous before God. No one will be declared righteous. Not some of us, not a majority of us, not a minority of us, none of us. can be declared righteous before God if God is going to judge us based upon our own works. As in some sense meriting, earning his favor. You see, the problem is not God's law. God's law is perfect. God's law is holy. God's law is good. God's law is spiritual. According to Romans 7, Paul says. So the problem is not with God's law, the problem is with us. We can't keep it. Try as we may, we cannot perfectly keep God's law. You see, once we go down that path, where we believe that we have to do something on our part in order to be declared righteous before God, the question is always going to be, have I done enough? That was the question Martin Luther kept asking. Have I done enough? And he could never be satisfied that he had done enough. Nor can any of us be satisfied that we've done enough if we're going to be declared righteous before God in the basis of our own righteousness and our own obedience before God. So the question of the issue is that we do, God's law has to be satisfied. God's law has to be satisfied and obedience, perfect obedience to God's law has to be satisfied by somebody. Either we have to ourselves satisfy God's justice by way of our own obedience perfectly to God's law, which we've already indicated is impossible for all of sin to come short of the glory of God. Or Jesus has to keep the law perfectly. and it is his righteousness, his perfect righteousness that is credited to our account when we believe and trust in him alone for our salvation, our justification before God. Someone has to keep the law perfectly. If not us, then Jesus. Jesus paid the debt of guilt for God's people and purchase forgiveness of sin for all who will trust in him by faith alone. Don't want to in any way come across denigrating God's law. God's law, again, as I said, is good, holy, and spiritual. Nothing wrong with God's law. And God has given to us his law, not in order to be justified by it, but to show to us our need of Christ, to show to us that we sin and we cannot be justified before God, declared righteous before God on the basis of our obedience. But he also has given to us his law to direct and to give us after we are justified. to give us again light and understanding. His law is again a light into our path. It is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. It directs us, his law does. Oh, how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day long, David prayed. So it is good and we are to love God's law and we are to obey God out of love for him. but not in order to be justified. We obey God's law because we have been justified. We love God's law because he has saved us. And therefore we can go forth with joy and with love to obey and walk in his paths because he has rescued us from our sin through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so does Galatians 3.1, does this verse teach that the Galatians had made an image of the crucified Christ and that was how they saw Christ? According to the Apostle Paul, is that how they were viewing and seeing Christ? Well, I dare say no, exclamation point, no. That is not what Paul is saying. Paul calls here the Galatian believers foolish. He doesn't do so in order to be mean. He doesn't do so as if he's just calling them names because he despises them. You see, Paul was a spiritual father to these Galatian believers and churches. He was the apostle sent out to the Gentiles whom God mightily used to raise up churches in that area of Galatia. And so he was speaking to them as a spiritual father to his beloved children. but he is seeking to show them how they have been charmed in a bad way, charmed and deceived by false teachers. To completely disregard the truth concerning Jesus Christ in the gospel of Christ. So in Paul saying to them that they are foolish, this is an act of kindness on Paul's part. when it is administered in love. And especially where there is a history of love having already been shown. When he says, you foolish Galatians, he's already shown to them over the years, how again, he is to them, a spiritual father who loves them. It's just like a parent saying to a child whom the parent loves, don't act foolish. To act foolish is to go contrary to what God says in his word. You see, Psalm 141, verse five, the psalmist says, let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness. and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head. When instruction, warning, reproof, correction is administered with love that has a history to it, that is certainly an example of affection. when one says, don't be foolish, don't disregard what God says. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon continues to appeal to his own son, my son, my son, my son, don't do this, don't be foolish, don't walk according to the fools of this world. Was he being hateful? Was he despising his son in saying that? No, he was expressing love. And we as parents must be careful that how we express that is done in love and that the child understands and has seen that love. That there's something to build that correction upon, not mere authority. There is an authority that parents have and they are to wield that authority in the home. But if we wield that authority in the home without love and tenderness in the way we wield that authority, it's only going to drive our children or husbands, it will drive our wives away from us. if it's not again known that this is said because I love you, I care for you. How was the crucified Jesus set before their eyes, before the eyes of the Galatians? Well, I submit to you that Jesus was set before their eyes in the gospel, the gospel which was read and the gospel which was preached to them and received by them through faith. The Greek verb that is used here in English, evidently set forth, that's in Galatians 3.1, the Greek verb that is used there, prografo, is only used in three other verses. in the entire New Testament. And in all of those verses, it does not refer to seeing a literal image, seeing a literal picture of anything. but rather in each of these verses, it refers to what was written before or decreed before, not that which is pictured or portrayed by way of an image or a picture. For example, when we look at these three verses in Romans 15, four, The Apostle Paul says, and he uses the same verb that's used in Galatians 3.1, for whatsoever things, notice, were written aforetime, prografo, were written aforetime, uses the verb twice in this verse, for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, that which was written aforetime in the scriptures might have hope. So Romans 15.4 is speaking of that which was written aforetime, before. Ephesians 3.3. Again, the Apostle Paul says, how that by revelation He, that is God, made known unto me the mystery. A mystery is that which is hidden, but is now revealed. So God made known unto Paul that which was hidden, but is now revealed. And notice, as I wrote afore in a few words, as I wrote beforehand. So he's referring to, something that he had already written earlier in this letter to the Ephesians, which I wrote before unto you. And then the last place is in Jude 1, 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, that verb, who were before of old ordained or decreed, written by way of a decree, written by way of an ordination, perhaps again in the scriptures where God foretold that false prophets would come and this would be their condemnation. So again, I believe that in all of these verses, it doesn't have to do with seeing something, an image that is set forth before them, but it refers to God's word that was previously given to them in the scriptures. Thus this verb is not used here in the sense of setting forth again an image or picture of the crucified Christ. but is used as setting forth that which was previously written concerning the crucified Christ in scripture. So what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3.1 is that Jesus Christ crucified had been previously given to them in writing, perhaps in preaching, and that they had beheld Jesus Christ crucified in the gospel with a sight of faith. As the gospel was read to them, as the gospel was preached to them, they beheld Jesus Christ crucified with a sight of faith, by faith. John 6, 40, we see that the Lord Jesus uses seeing and sight Not in a literal sense, but in a spiritual sense, as basically a synonym for faith. For example, in John 6, 40, Jesus says, and this is the will of him that sent me. This is the will of the Father. That everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. So is John saying that we have to behold Jesus literally in his body or in an image in order to have everlasting life? Or is seeing Jesus the same thing as believing in Jesus? Again, this is very often the case in the Old and New Testament where you have this type of parallelism. Further explanation, to behold Christ is to believe in Christ. To behold Christ is to behold him by faith. And that is what Paul is saying in Galatians 3.1. Likewise, consider what Paul says in Hebrews chapter 12, verses one through two with regard to seeing by faith the Lord Jesus. Wherefore, Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the cloud of witnesses are those in chapter 11 of Hebrews who were faithful, who believed in God, mentions many, many from the Old Testament scriptures, men, women who trusted in God. They are the cloud of witnesses who have become witnesses to testify through difficult circumstances, how God delivered them, how God provided for them, how God kept his word. That's the cloud of witnesses. In light of that, let us lay aside, Paul says, every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Notice, looking unto Jesus. the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do we behold Jesus according to Paul in an image? Is that what he's saying? Looking into Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith? Are we to look at some image of Jesus? or are we to look on Jesus crucified because that is what is revealed in Holy Scripture, that he was crucified for our sins, that he was raised from the dead, that he was exalted to the right hand of the Father. We are to believe, we are to look unto him in faith based on what is revealed in his word. I would simply say if one, however, does understand that in Galatians 3.1, that Paul is talking about here, seeing Jesus, before whose eyes Jesus hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you, that there is a natural seeing with these natural eyes, that that is an interpretation that one would accept, I would simply say that does not refer to something that's not appointed by God, namely images, never find anything by way of God's people worshiping before images in the Old Testament or the New Testament. But if it is looking to something and Christ crucified, looking to the Lord's Supper, looking to the bread in the Lord's Supper, which signifies and seals the promises of God in his broken body upon the cross, looking in the Lord's supper with our natural eyes at the wine, which signifies and seals the promises of God made to us in the blood that he shed for us, his people. And so if it is a natural looking to or sight of the crucified Christ, then looking at these symbols in the Lord's Supper would be all that would be necessary to be seen with a natural sight. Does the Holy Spirit in the New Testament make clear that We've already seen the Old Testament, but now in the New Testament, does the Holy Spirit in the New Testament make clear that images that represent God, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit are considered by God to be idols, considered to be idolatry? Does God say so in the New Testament, which is a violation of the second commandment? Indeed, he does. Indeed, he does. If you have your Bibles handy, turn with me to Acts chapter seven, where we have the testimony of Stephen, the first martyr, recorded martyr, after the day of Pentecost. And he is giving, again, kind of a summary of Old Testament redemptive history bringing the Jewish audience to the place to point to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament redemptive plan of God. And we read beginning in verse 37, Acts 7, 37. This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall you hear. This is speaking of Christ being the greater prophet that Moses was a type of. Verse 38, this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai. and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us, to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, We want not what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice unto, notice, the idol, the calf, the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your God, Rimfan. figures which he made to worship them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon. But notice the calf is called an idol. And those who use idols in worship practice idolatry. But as we go back to Exodus 32, we find that the calf, the golden calf, was never intended by the Israelites to represent foreign gods. It was made to represent Jehovah God, for Aaron says, with regard to this golden calf, tomorrow we're going to celebrate a feast to Jehovah using this calf. And so this calf was a representation of Jehovah. And yet, it's called an idol. which is, again, to use it, is idolatry. Because it was supposed to be a representation, a symbol of Jehovah, of God. And yet it's called an idol. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, there the Apostle Paul, beginning with verse five, Speaks of those who fell in the wilderness after the exodus, after crossing the Red Sea and into the wilderness. Speaks of those who fell away from God. Says, but with many of them God was not well pleased. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Notice, neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Again, here the testimony of scripture is that what they did in a representation of God, of Jehovah, was idolatry. And why would it not be the same today? Why would we not also believe that any representation of that same God, not a different God, but the same God, is less than idolatry today? Has the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the word becoming flesh, dwelling among us, has that altered or changed the second commandment so that what was condemned in the Old Testament under the Second Commandment is now acceptable in the New Testament, that we're allowed to now make images because Jesus has come in the flesh? Well, I would say that would be true if Jesus was only a man. Only if Jesus is a man and only a man would that be true, but Jesus is not. Only a man. Jesus is fully God. He is fully man and he is fully God. If Jesus is fully God in his incarnation, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, then he is yet the same divine person, though having added and taken unto himself a human nature to his divine nature. And there is no way that a picture or an image or a movie can accurately display and represent Jesus as the God-man. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, John 1.1, John 1.14. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of God. full of grace, full of grace. How can a picture in any way accurately portray the God-man who is full of grace? It cannot. Any picture, any image, any movie is lying. is lying about who Jesus is in its attempt to portray Jesus. Did the apostles or anyone else recorded in the New Testament ever make an image of God, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, let alone use it in worship? No, absolute silence. The silence is not an invitation to make an image. The silence is a requirement not to make an image because God has already forbidden it in his law, in the second commandment. It's God's condemnation of it, not his approval of it, because he's already condemned it. And that is why no approved images are ever mentioned as being made or used in the New Testament at all. And, as we'll see in a moment, for the next 300 years. And the early church fathers either. It slowly was implemented and came into being over time, over centuries. But this began to be the case. It does not go back to the apostles. as is promoted and taught in the Church of Rome. Romans 1, and I won't read it, but I'll send you there, Romans 1, chapter 1, verses 20 through 23, talk about how God revealed himself and his invisible attributes. in his divine nature, that which cannot be seen, his mighty power, the attributes of his nature which cannot be seen. And it says that men were not satisfied with simply knowing through creation, what God had created, that he's almighty, that he's good, that he's sovereign. They weren't satisfied with that. Paul says in Romans 1, and they began then to make images of God, of the likeness of man and of other creatures, images of God, but that's condemned by Paul in Romans 1, not approved. condemned. And then God turns them over because they began to make images, practice idolatry. It says God turned them over to the lust of their flesh. So they practice all manner of immorality. Second, and we won't spend very much time on this, much could be said, but I don't want to belabor the point. I just want to give a brief sampling of some historical testimony concerning the matter of images in the first three centuries, before 313. Even Roman Catholic historians and theologians testify to this as well. I'm not saying all of them do, but there are Roman Catholic historians and theologians who do likewise testify that for the first three centuries that there were not images that were approved of and used within the church. Carl Joseph on Hefele, a Roman Catholic bishop and theologian who lived from 1808 to 1893 wrote this, the primitive church had no images of Christ since most Christians at that time still adhered to the commandment of Moses found in Exodus 20 verse four. The more that regard as well to the Gentile Christians as to the Jewish Christians forbade all use of images. It's not that the church fathers, after the time of the apostles, up until 313, had nothing to say about religious images. That's not the issue. They did, in fact, write about religious images, however, They do not mention the use, the making of and using religious images as an acceptable practice, but a practice that had its origins from pagans or Gnostic heretics. For example, Clement of Alexandria 150 to 215 says, Moses enacted expressly that neither a graven nor molten nor molded nor painted likeness should be made so that we may not cleave to things of sense, things that we can see, but pass to intellectual objects, that is by way of faith. For familiarity with sight disparages the reverence of what is divine. And to worship that which is immaterial by matter, by way of matter, by way of some physical image, is to dishonor it by sense. Origen lived from 185 to 253. He's quoting a pagan whose name is Celsus. Celsus says that Christians cannot tolerate temples, altars, or images. So the pagans are saying about Christians that Christians don't tolerate temples, altars, or images. In this, Celsus goes on, in this they are like the Scythians, the nomadic tribe of Libya, the Syri's who worship no God and some other of the most barbarous and impious nations in the world. So that was the criticism of a pagan who did use, Celsus who did believe in using images. He's criticizing Christians for not doing so. Origen goes on to say, these groups that Celsus mentions, these groups agree in this with Christians and Jews in not having images. But they are actuated by very different principles. For none of these former pagan groups have four altars and images on the ground that they are afraid of degrading the worship of God. and reducing it to the worship of material things wrought by the hands of men. Christians not only avoid temples, altars, and images, but are ready to suffer death when it is necessary rather than debase by any such impiety the conception which they have of the Most High God. It is not possible at the same time to know God and to address prayers to images. Lactantius, lived from 250 to 325, says, wherefore it is undoubted that there is no religion wherever there is an image. The eminent church historian, Philip Schaff, notes concerning the early church historian, Eusebius, who is called the father of church history, this concerning Eusebius, that Eusebius declared himself in the strongest manner against images of Christ in a letter to the Empress Constantius, who had asked him for such an image. Christ says he has laid aside his earthly servant form, and Paul exhorts us to cleave no longer to the sensible, to that which we can see, and the transcendent glory of his heavenly body cannot be conceived nor represented by man. Besides, the second commandment forbids the making to ourselves any likeness of anything in heaven or in earth. During the 8th century, the 700s, There raged battles within the church over the issue of images, some defending the use of images and others denouncing the use of images. At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, again, something that the papal king completely approved of, images of God, angels, martyrs, and saints were fully approved. And in these words, if anyone does not salute, that is give some type of reverence to such representations as standing for the Lord and his saints, let him be anathema, let him be cursed, let him be damned. Likewise, the Council of Trent, the Church of Rome, in 1545 to 1563 cited the same acts of the Second Council of Nicaea and gave its full approval to the making of images of God and the use of images in worship. that is the official position of the papal king and the Church of Rome. Whereas reformed churches, reformed Protestant churches, historically have condemned the making of images to be used in worship and any representation of God, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Westminster Larger Catechism and written in 1647 in question 109 declares that the second commandment forbids this, the making any representation of God of all or any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever, all worshiping of it or God in it or by it. Sadly, the vast majority of Protestant churches today have simply moved away from that biblical historical position and have come to embrace the position, a position much closer to, if not the same position of Rome, that since the incarnation, making images, pictures, movies of God, particularly Jesus, are acceptable. Let me give you some application as we close today. Some of the common objections that we will hear for images are these. For example, I don't worship the image or the picture, but simply what it represents. Another objection we may hear, the image or picture is only a help and aid for me to clearly focus my attention upon the Lord. Or this, the image or picture is to the illiterate, those who cannot read, and to children, a tool to teach them about God. Perhaps we've heard those before, perhaps We've even in the past held to those views. But God forbids it, regardless of the good intentions, even if we defined what we just heard by way of objections, by way of good intentions on the part of people. To disobey God, we cannot justify our disobedience of God by way of good intentions. There is nothing good about disobeying what God prohibits, what God commands. To the contrary, images of God, as we've noted, teach a lie and lead people to trust in what they can see and touch. rather than walking by faith in a God whom they cannot see. Remember what the Lord Jesus said to Thomas in John 20, verse 29, because he had to see and feel and put his hands into the wounds of the Lord Jesus before he would believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. And Jesus says unto Thomas, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. That's where the blessing falls. Not upon those who must have images, but those who believe without seeing. A second application is this, that when we disregard God's commandments, understand that God And we rebel against God's commandments. God turns us over to more serious types of sins and forms of idolatry or sexual immorality. That's what Romans 1 teaches. They knew God as he had created all things, the invisible God, but they began to form images of God. God turned them over to the lust of their flesh. So they practice all manner of immorality. You see, as I noted in our pastoral prayer, there is an election coming up, and people, I believe, are looking perhaps to someone who's going to solve the problem of inflation, the economy, immigration, sexual perversity that has run rampant, or even abortion. But at the same time, people are looking to men to solve these problems rather than God. Why are we in the situation we are in as a nation? It is because we have turned our backs upon the one true living God. It is because we have denied that He is that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We have likewise disowned the Lord in the first four commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make any images, bow down to them. Thou shalt not take God's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Those are all commandments that speak of our duty to God and we've just abandoned them as a nation. and therefore God has delivered us over to all manner of evil. As a result, what our nation needs is reformation, turning again to Jesus Christ, to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to covenant afresh and anew, to be God's people as a nation, and finally, last application is this, that God is a jealous God in a good sense, in a holy sense. Just like that there's a good sense in which a husband is jealous for his wife, that his wife should be faithful to him. Or good sense in which a wife should be jealous that her husband should be faithful to her and to her alone. And because God is covenanted with us to be his people, he's a jealous God. That we not shed our affections, our love upon other gods or images, various forms of idolatry, but our love, our affection be given entirely to him. He's a jealous God, in a good sense. But that means again, that means again that that we are to understand God, though very gracious and merciful, is a God to be feared and taken seriously. He's not a God to be treated lightly, carelessly, flippantly, because in the second commandment he commands, or he threatens judgment to those who dishonor him, and he promises blessing. Blessing to those who do honor him. When he says, Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or 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. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments, keep my commandments. Blessing to those who keep his commandments. Dear ones, let's honor him. Let's honor God and be blessed. Amen.