Let us continue on in our study in the book of Exodus. And we're going to be in chapter 20 again. And we're looking at the second commandment in the book of Exodus. And it's the commandment not to have idols. Now, commandment number one is the commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me, which deals with theology proper. It deals with the who in who we worship. And when you get into the second commandment, you're getting into the how of worshiping Yahweh, the how of worshiping, the mechanics of doing it. A poll has been taken about what people believe about God. And in the poll, they ask the person, what is your views of life? What is your views of morality? What is your views of ethics? What is your views of God? And the person would answer all these questions. And then the second question they would ask them is, OK, so how do you view God? How do you view Him with the ethics and morals and evil and good and whatnot? And then what they would find is they would compare the two answers. The answers about self and the answers about God. And what they found was that most people have created a God that is nothing more than an extension of themselves. Because what they believe is what they say God believes. Which is weird, right? So they're making up their own gods. They'll call him Jesus. They'll call him Yahweh. But their Yahweh allows things that the biblical Yahweh doesn't allow. And so what you start realizing is most people... have a vision of God that reflects themselves. And that, my friends, is one of the biggest idolatries that goes on in most people's lives. We're going to talk about idolatry. We're going to get into it a little bit today. We're going to talk about the mechanics of idolatry and how important it is to understand the mechanics in order to spot it. It's not that easy to spot idols in our own personal lives. Now let me tell you a little bit about Israel so we can understand it about ourselves. So this commandment is repeated under the law of the Messiah, so it does apply to us today. We're not to have idols. I mean, Paul will make that point in many of his letters. Do not have idols, okay? Just flat out, don't have them. Most people don't see the idols that are in their personal life. But let me tell you how Israel did it. Israel had the problem of syncretism. They would believe in Yahweh, but they would bring in these other gods. And so really, in the Israelites' mind, Yahweh was the national god for the nation. And then when you broke it down into the familial gods, the family gods, they had different sets of gods like Baal or Asherah or other beings they worship on a familial level. And then when you went to the personal level, they had another set of gods on the personal level. Now I'm not talking about the remnant of Israel, I'm talking about the majority of Israelites who practice syncretism, okay? This is how they work their life. So if you ask the average Israeli, do you believe in Yahweh? Of course they would say yes, but then you would have to drill down, well, who's your family gods and who's your personal gods, and they would tell you something different. But they would always affirm, yes, I believe in Yahweh. That's called syncretism. And the same is true for us. As believers, we say, do you believe in Jesus? Yes, I believe in Jesus. But then if you probe a little further, what you'll start discovering is that all believers, all believers, struggle with idols. They struggle with it. Now, how do I know they struggle with it? Because when we get involved in sin, or we have something that we can't overcome, that something's kicking us in the pants, and we can't overcome, we can't get victory, and we say, well, I'm stuck in this sin, or I just keep doing this, what is behind that sin is an idol. That's what's creating the problem. And so people want to cut it off, and cut off the branch of sin, but they don't take care of the idol. The idol's still there. It's in them. And so, as you'll see with Israel, it is a common struggle that all their history they struggle with it. Even to today, Israel struggles with idolatry. Well, what's the idolatry today? The idolatry is the cult of the rabbi. The rabbis are the idols of Judaism. They won't do anything without the rabbi's approval. It's much like Catholicism. They won't do anything except the priest's approval. Just follow the priest and he'll tell you what to do. That's Judaism. It was the same problem in Jesus' day. It was the cult of the rabbi, the cult of the Pharisees that were controlling how people behaved. So it is a common problem for us as well. So we don't want to beat up Israel too much because we do the same thing personally. And so we want to flush out these mechanics about idolatry and understand them, how to identify in ourselves. So let me take you to the first form of idolatry that happened in Israel's life. We're not studying about the golden calf, but I want to take you there. So the first form of idolatry that popped up in Israel is when they're in the desert, obviously. And this is after they received the law, after the tabernacle, everything. This is further along the path here. And so what ends up happening is Moses goes on the mountain to talk to God and receive revelation. So he's gone for 40 days. And then Aaron, he just lets things go. Aaron's very passive, and the Israelites go hog wild. And they create an idol. And the idol is not just of a foreign god, the idol is of Yahweh. It's Yahweh worship in the form of a golden calf. And so if you ask the Israelis, what god are you serving? They would have said, we're serving Yahweh through this golden calf. It represented God. So that becomes the first instance of idolatry in the nation of Israel and a continued pattern of this. Now the interesting thing, we have the evidence of this around where Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia, down at the foot or the base of where the camp would be is this rock formation. And you can see it on the screen here, you see the rock formation that has the fence around it. The Saudi Arabian government has put a fence around it because they recognize there's something significant happened there. And so they put this fence around it and it's referred to as an archaeological find. And at the top is a flat surface of a giant rock. But, see Mount Sinai in the background? You see where the blackened peak is? So this is right below where the camp would have been. So when Moses came down, this is what he saw. He saw them going crazy on this peak of rock here, and on top of it was the golden calf that Israel had fashioned. And you can see different pictures of this, but as you get closer, There's some interesting archaeological finds. So there's a fence around it, but if you can see past the fence, there are these images all over this formation. And the images are of calves, of bulls. Now this guy must have jumped the fence, I don't know how he got in there. But apparently, I don't know if he unlocked the gate or something, I don't know, but he got in there and he's pointing this out. So as you can see, this is through the barbed wire fence. You see the picture of these bulls? Okay, that's all over these rocks in that area. No other place has it except this area, which lends support and evidence that this is the place of the golden calf. And now these bulls that you see here, you think, okay, it's very paleo, very ancient, right? But if you go to Egypt, you will see the same type of drawing of bulls. the Apis bull. And so it lends more support for the credibility because the Israelites are drawing these bulls, but where did they get the concept of drawing a bull like this? They got it from Egypt because that's where they were at. These are very Egyptian drawings, but made in a Semitic Hebrew place with a menorah and things of that nature around the area and at the foot of Mount Sinai. So this shows you that right off the bat, Israel's gonna struggle with idolatry all the way into the future all the way into the tribulation They will struggle with idolatry because you know what the ultimate idolatry for Israel will be the Antichrist He will be the ultimate form of idolatry that Israel gets in league with right so it's all the way to the end and So the point is, they struggle with it, we're going to struggle with it. Let's now jump into verse 4 of chapter 20 and unpack a little bit of this. You should not make for yourself a carved image. The idea of a carved image is something materialistically that represents God used for worship. You can't do that, that is forbidden. Because God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth according to what the Messiah said. So therefore, there cannot be any physical representation that you and I use to worship God. Okay, so that's very specific. Okay, but yet... You see in other denominations, in the Roman Catholic Church, they are using those images to worship God with, right? They're using them for worship. Please understand, this is not about having a picture of Jesus in your house, because you're not using the picture of Jesus to worship him. It's the object that is used to venerate or worship the Lord, which would be a statue, an idol, something materialistic is what God is trying to say, you can't use those things to worship me. But let's continue on. He says this, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. That's a Hebrew expression of that you don't offer worship through these material things. And we'll get into this later as we dive down deeper into idolatry. That when someone does this, they actually will start worshipping demons and not know it. Because behind idols are demons. We'll get more into that later on. And he goes, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Now, when you see the word jealous, do not pour into it the idea of humanistic, sinful jealousy. This is not talking about being suspicious of anyone, or distrustful, or wrongly envying something else. God's jealousy is what we call a holy and righteous indignation because somebody or someone is stealing something that belongs to God. In one sense, the idols will steal God's glory, God's honor, God's power, God's worship, God's esteem that we as humans should be giving to Him. The second thing it takes away is believers in Yahweh. See, you and I are God's property. He owns us. When we placed our faith in the Messiah, He now marks us and seals us, and therefore we're owned by God. We're His now. And again, we have free will, and what would happen to the Israelis is they would prostitute themselves out spiritually by going to other gods. And God called that spiritual adultery. He used marriage terms for that. That when you break covenant, the bonds of the covenant, it's like you've broken the marriage vows and you're seeking suitors. And so God would get onto Israel for whoring themselves out to foreign gods, committing spiritual adultery against Him. And therefore, that's why the term jealous is used. It's used in the term of a marriage couple where one's cheating on the other. That is a righteous jealousy that the other one should have towards what's happening. And so he says, I'm a jealous God. And therefore, he continues on and he says this. And this is the result of this jealousy. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me Now let's unpack that because that takes a little bit of parsing out Let's let's go to the term hate and love. Okay, because in the next passage you'll say I'll give mercy to those who love me and When you see in the Old Testament or the New Testament the terms love and hate, do not pour into it any romanticism, any emotions into that. Love and hate are a Jewish idiom for referring to priority. Priority. So when God says, I visit the sins on the third and fourth generation to those who hate me, he is saying to believers, those who misprioritize me, those who put me down the list. I'm number seven, number eight, number nine on their priorities. So so if you just translate that in just modern English, you say, well, I don't hate God. Well, it's not referring to your hatred, it's referring to where is God on your priority list? Is He number one? Or is He number ten? And those, it says those who love Him, it's not an emotional love, even though your emotions could be there, but it's referring to a decision of the will to make God the priority of your life. That He is the one you serve. He is the one you give yourself to. He is the one that your time and money and energy go to. Nothing else. Everything else is second or third or fourth to Him. That's what love hate means. So let's back up then. He says. When you commit spiritual adultery and follow other idols, I am going to punish you by visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. What does he mean by that? Well, here's what we know it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean he's holding you and I responsible for what your parents did, or what your grandparents did, or what your ancestors did. Unlike what the Marxists want to do today, right? You'll see passages like this in Deuteronomy, Father 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. So when these people want reparations back from what happened to slavery in the 1700s, I'm not responsible for that. You can't hold me responsible for that. in Deuteronomy 24 16 the next one Ezekiel 18 says this the soul who sins shall die the son shall not bear the guilt of the father nor the father bear the guilt of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself end of story okay so What does this mean then? That he will visit the iniquity on the third and fourth generation. It means this. Any idolatry that your family of origin started, what will happen is if the person, the next generation doesn't break the cycle of the idolatry, then Not only did their parents get punished, they will get punished for the same idolatry. And if they don't break the cycle and then communicate it to their kids, and then their kids act this way, then their kids will be punished for the same sin. And if they continue on, the great grandkids, and they do the same thing, they will be punished as well. So in the broader scope, we're dealing with sin that keeps getting copycatted all through the generations. They will be punished for their own thing, but they're being punished for copycatting this, this pattern. In this particular context, the sin we're referring to is idolatry. That somebody started idolatry in the family and it's now moving down and no one's stopping it. No one's breaking the cycle like an Abraham or Sarah who came out of the Caldees and Abraham is not going to follow Tara anymore. His father, he's going to do his own thing and follow God and stop the idolatry. So somebody in your family has to stop the idolatry. Well, what do you mean? I want you to think very clearly about the family of origin issues. No family is without idols, none of them. We all have family gods. Our job is to get those family gods out of our family, to recognize it and see it. So let's take the biggest idol that most people have, the idol of wealth, the idol of materialism, okay? So let's start with this family here, and they worship the god of money. Okay, you can be rich, you can be poor and still worship the God of money, right? Poor people can worship the God of money, rich people can worship the God of money. But in their family, money is king. Having things is king. It is a sign for them. Okay? And that filters out into how that family does things. Whether the careers they pick, or the things they do, the people they honor, whatever. It starts here. So then the next generation comes, and they're raised like that. And they see the parents act like this, and they see that money is venerated. Therefore, then they take that on and say, well, this is what I was taught by my parents, so I guess I'll do the same thing. Whether they consciously do it or not. And then if the cycle's not broken and they become idolaters of wealth, guess what? They'll raise kids the same way. And if the cycle's not broken with the kids, the great grandkids will be the same way. So what you're gonna see is first generation, second generation, third generation, fourth generation is repeating and worshiping the same idols. Our job as believers is to stop it. At some point, you and I have to recognize the family of origin and what they were passing on to us. Some things were good, no doubt about that, but some things were idols, and you have to catch the family idols. You have to know what was it that they passed on that's not necessarily biblical. Who did they honor? Who did they respect? What kind of things did they do to show that? Where did they spend their time? Where did they spend their money? All those things will start evidencing what their God was. And then everything will be built around that idol. And it will be passed on that, hey, if you want to be accepted in this family, you better march in order because this is what we do in this family. This is the idols, the family idols we serve. Now, they're never going to come out and say that, but that's what's really happening. Do not think we're more sophisticated than the ancients. They were doing the same things, just as the same thing we do today. We are responsible to break that. Otherwise, we will be punished the same way they are punished. He continues in verse six and he says, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Now there's that word love. Again, it's referring to an agape love of God, not an emotional love of God. That you and I make a decision to put God as the priority in our lives and everything else is second to that. And notice it says, and keep my commandments. Now, what about that? Well, Jesus put it this way in the gospels, because he repeats this. He says, if you love me, then what? keep my commandments. So the way to evidence our commitment to Jesus, that he's number one, the evidence will be that I or you keep his commandments. That's the evidence that we are loving him. But unfortunately a lot of Christians don't love Jesus. This is why he gets on to the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter two, because they are Departing from their love from him doesn't mean departing from their belief in him. It means that they're not prioritizing Jesus anymore in their life or in that church and Therefore he's going to remove their candlestick or their lamps and from its place now. What does that mean? I? Removing your candlestick or lampstand means that if you misprioritize Jesus, he will take away your witness. You will be ineffectual for witnessing to this world because you will look like the world. You will act like the world and therefore your salt and your light goes out and he removes the candlestick from its place ineffectual, which is just like Laodicea. The Laodicean church had worshiped the god of money. How do we know? Because historically, the church of Laodicea, they sold black wool, which was very expensive, and they sold an ice shaft. And most of the people that attended that church made money on those two industries. And so the church was extremely wealthy, extremely affluent. And you know what that church thought? That church thought that because they were so wealthy, that was the blessing of God. They misunderstood what was happening. In fact, when Jesus rebukes them, he tells them, you are so messed up, you can't even see yourself spiritually. It's the opposite of what you think about yourself. You're spiritually poor, blind, and naked. But you think you've become rich because of me. See, that's the God of materialism. Folks, that's Western Christianity. The God of materialism is syncretized into Christianity right now. The biggest block where the most money is made in Christianity, guess what? It's the materialism of the Word of Faith theology, the New Apostolic Reformation. It is the Kingdom Now theology that tells Christians that God is materially blessing you And so your affluence is a sign of God's approval on your life. Wow, that couldn't be further from the truth, but yet most people believe that. Most people believe, I know this sounds crazy, that you'll have these prosperity preachers to get up there and they'll bring out their wallet and say, you need to speak faith to that wallet. And wallet, you just need to go fat. and you need to push, give me some more money, because I need more money. And bless God, I'm a child of God, and my God owns the cattle in a thousand years. Get big! Get money! I mean, that's ridiculous, man, but actually people believe that, right? It's crazy. But they're not worshipping Jesus, they're worshipping an idol of materialism. That's what it is. And that's caught wind in most circles of Christianity. Now, with this being said, God is saying, I want to show mercy to thousands who will obey me and not sell me out and being second or third or fourth in your life. That being the case, let me show you how this functions. About 20 years ago, I knew a guy who was extremely involved in ministry. I mean, he's doing a lot of things, and I mean, he was steeped in ministry. And you would think he was, man, he's on fire for God, and you can't get better than this, man, this is awesome. His kids were about junior high and then one was in high school or something like that, so he's at that stage in life. But in his career, he was at the top of his game. When you reach that point in your career where you're at the top of the game, you're making the most money you're gonna make, and things are really nice financially, you went through the hard times, and you get a little money, okay. No problem there, he earned it, he deserves it, he worked hard. The issue is, does he have the character to handle the extra? Does he possess the spiritual maturity to handle the extra money? Well, with all that service, you would think he would, but he didn't. So he got the little extra money, so, okay, I'm going to do a few things with this money. I'm going to buy a beach home. So he bought a beach home. No problem there. It's neutral. You do anything you want with your money. So then, once he bought the home, he would come to us and say, hey, I can't do this ministry anymore, I gotta go to the coast this weekend. And then he would drop this ministry, and he'd drop that ministry, and he'd drop that ministry, all because he had to be at the beach. Because in his mind, he was saying this, I've spent a lot of money on this beach home, I gotta get my money out of it. So therefore, we gotta go every weekend to the beach home and stay there. In doing so, he dropped all of his ministry. In doing so, he pulled his kids out of church, out of youth group, which is formidable years for the junior high and high school, right? Pulled them out, because where are they gonna be? At Pismo, every weekend. Not going to church? No, we found a little church over there. No, no, no, no, no, no, it's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. And so what ended up happening is, The extra money he got, which was coming from work and great, that's no problem, ended up not being a blessing to him, but actually being a curse. Because he did not possess the ability to handle it, and it turned into an idol for him. And he's never been the same since. His kids have never been the same since. you lose your high school years of going to youth group and going to Sunday school and going to church and you're yanked out because you're at the coast. Do not think those kids were not harmed spiritually. See, the devil will say, look, I'll give you all the money you want, believer. You just give me your kids. I'll take them. I remember there was a scene in the Old Testament where You know, there was this war with Sodom and Gomorrah, the five kings there in the plain there where Sodom and Gomorrah were, and Abraham's involved in this, and he gets involved in this war, right? And at the end of it, the king of Babylon, which I believe is a typology for the Antichrist or a typology for Satan, he's gonna come and talk to Abraham. And right before this happens, Melchizedek comes on the scene, and I think It was the intervention of Melchizedek that helped Abraham stand his ground. And so Melchizedek comes, and then after that, the king of Babylon comes to Abraham. And the king of Babylon tries to make a deal with Abraham. And he says this, hey, look, I'll give you all the spoils of war. I'll give you all the wealth you want, man. You just give me the people. You see the game? Satan would load his pockets all up. And I don't think Melchizedek got there and intervened in that situation to remind Abraham what it's about. Abraham might have given in. I don't know. But Melchizedek played a key part in that. Melchizedek is a Christ-like figure, right? The intervention of the Messiah came in and stopped that to reorient Abraham. No, no, no. Don't give up the people. Don't sell out for money. Don't sell out for worldly advantage. That's what Christians are starting to do. They are selling out Jesus for worldly advantage. worldly luxuries, worldly niceties. And so when you ask them, do you believe in Jesus? Yes. Do you love Jesus? They can't answer that no. And so they'll put him down on number eight and 10. Well, we'll worship Jesus when it's convenient for our schedule. Yeah, okay. You have an idol. You have an idol. We're gonna continue to go deeper into this. Next time because there's a lot here and the issue about Idolatry is you have to understand the mechanics once you understand the mechanics you will see it all over the place Because idols are not that obvious Not that obvious at all, but we all have them. Let me give you a picture of the the temple that Solomon built And this is the first temple, this is after the tabernacle time, and so Solomon builds the temple, right? And so if you look above the temple, in the schematic of the temple, you can see something. Do you see what it is? It's a human body. So this is Solomon's temple, but do you see the head, the holy of holies? You see the holy place would be the chest, porch would be the gut area, the legs are the two pillars, and then the altar of sacrifice where the feet are. It's a picture of a human body. Obviously the temple prefigures what was to come and what are we enjoying right now. Where is the temple at right now? It's us. Paul says it's our bodies. Our bodies are now the temple and the Holy Spirit resides in us. The Shekinah glory is actually inside of us and no one can see it. But we represent the finality of that temple structure, right? Okay. But see the priest cells there? The priest cells is where the priest chambers were, where they would change clothes, do their things, but they would hold little objects in there, whatever they were carrying, their knapsack or whatever. But you know what started happening? The priests started putting little idols, their personal idols, in their cubby holes, so to speak. And all the priest cells eventually had personal idols of all the different priests and the gods they worshipped as it encircled the holy place and the holy of holies. Now that's sick. And you think, I cannot believe that happened to Israel. Those priests defiled the temple. They did. And eventually, the Shekinah glory leaves it because it got so defiled. But again, what is it pointing to? It's saying that what happened in Israel's temple can happen to you and I. We can believe in Jesus, be saved, but yet be an idol factory and be worshiping all these other things and making sacrifices to them and not even see it, not even being aware of it. Stuff that's got passed down to our families, stuff that happened to us, stuff that we created, and all of a sudden we have an idol. Well, Brandon, how do I know if I have an idol? It's simple. Work from your behavior and work backwards. Well, what do you mean? What is it that you can't overcome? What is it that you can't get victory over? What is it that keeps kicking you in the pants? Start there and just work backwards. Why do I do that? Why do I? And just keep asking why? Why? Why? And ask God to reveal it. And as you keep stepping back from the sin, from the habit, and you move backwards, what you will discover is you have an idol. And you are making sacrifice to that idol. And you are worshiping at the altar of that idol. And you're giving that idol what he or she wants, and that idol is giving back to you what you want. That's why you won't unleash it. That's why you are tethered to it. It's because you like what the idol gives you. That's what the priests were doing. That's what we do. And let me tell you, first of all, I know all about idolatry. I am an idolater. I know exactly what it was like. I know the sacrifices I made. My idol came early on in life is the idol of athletics. It was the idol of baseball. That's what was my idol. I know it sounds silly, but it really was. So I followed this idol all my life because this idol gave me something that I wanted. It gave me affection, it gave me esteem, it gave me identity, it gave me value, and it gave me attention. That's an idol. If something's doing that for you other than Jesus, you got an idol. That's me. See, I didn't play sports just for sports sake and have a friendly competition. I played it because of what it gave me. So I made sacrifices to my idol, just like anyone else worships an idol. I spilt blood for this idol. Three surgeries, two Tommy Johns. I shed blood for this idol because I like what it gave me, and it did give me some things. It gave me material possessions, which idols do. That's the mechanics of idols, is idols always will give you materialism. What is the materialism? I got money for it. I got big money to go play in college. They virtually paid the whole thing for me, just to play in college. See, that idol paid me back for all the time and effort I sacrificed to that idol, didn't it? And that kept me in the game. Because look, wow, look where I'm at. Because I made sacrifices to this idol, this idol paid me back. You betcha I'm gonna keep worshiping this idol, because it needs to take me further. But then I got saved at 19, and all things changed. And the impression that God put on me is, you have idols, and you have a big fat one, and I need to get this out of you. And I already knew what it was. I knew he was asking me to let it go, let it go, let it go, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't. Because it was my identity, it's who I was, it's what made me, it's what gave me attention, it's what gave me value, it's what gave me the things I was looking for. Okay? So I didn't want to let it go. And so then, because I wouldn't freely let it go after being warned, God says, fine, I'll remove it from you. So I got to the point after my senior year in college where I couldn't even throw hardly anymore. I made it through the season, no doubt about that, but I was all in pain meds. And I did get a look-see, a tryout from St. Louis, and all they were needing from me is 85 miles an hour. Death from a lefty. Back then, that was nothing. God had already closed the door and says, you're done. You're done. After your college senior season, I'm getting you through that, and you're done. And you know what I did? I'm not done. So I did go to the tryout. So I remember taking a cab up to the Bronx and doing a bullpen in front of the scout there and all he needed was for me is 85 miles an hour and I could have been drafted. That simple, 85, that's it. My arm hurt so bad, like it never had hurt before. I could throw, but I was in so much pain. And I remember God saying, I told you, I told you not to do this, I told you. you're not going any further. And so I went through it, and I gutted to the pain, I just knucklehead knee, and that day, because my arm was killing me so bad, I couldn't get it past 83 miles an hour. Two miles an hour, that's all I needed. My arm killed me so bad. I was done. I knew I was done. I knew I'd pushed the limit. And so I got back on the subway from the Bronx, go back into Manhattan. I was riding the subway and I thought to myself, I'm done. And God says, you better believe you're done. No more. We're done. Cut this off, Brandon. I showed you you're not going past this. I got a new story for you. I got a new endeavor for you. I have a new life where you don't worship idols, you worship me. If you can do that for me, you can do that for you. Amen? Let's pray.