Turn with me this evening to Exodus 20. Exodus 20 verses 1-6. Exodus 20 verses 1-6. Hear now the word of the living God. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments." This is the word of the Lord, and we say, thanks be to God. Let's pray. Lord, now we pray that by the Spirit's aid we may grow in faith and godliness and a desire to glorify you, and that we will be comforted this evening in the gospel, even as we look to your law. In Jesus' name, amen. On the back page of your bulletin this evening, you'll find the words to this week's Heidelberg Catechism. And really, it deals with the Second Commandment. We had a brother from out of town leading us into word last week. And so tonight, I want to quickly look at last week's catechism doctrine, which is the First Commandment, and then spend some time tonight looking at the Second Commandment. If you remember, this year in the evening and throughout the week, if you're using it in your home, we're utilizing a catechism of doctrine known as the Heidelberg Catechism. This catechism was written in the 1500s, but it really follows three simple things. And out of these three things teaches a whole host of doctrines. First, the Apostles' Creed, the 12 statements that are there. And then second, the Ten Commandments, walking one by one through these, and then it closes in the end with the Lord's Prayer. And so these three bodies of words, have become, for many Christians down through the ages, things that are memorized, things that are taught, things that are expounded as children and congregations are taught. We look to the Word of God then tonight in Exodus 20, where we read from verses 1-17, the Ten Commandments. Quickly tonight, however, the question arises, aren't these Old Testament? How do we know that this is God's law? Wasn't this given to the people of Israel, but now in Christ are no longer required of us. So just to review so that you are with us in our understanding of the law of God, you can read a bit further in our own statement of faith and our confession. Here's a way of summarizing the moral law of God. God's eternal moral law, which reveals His character, was put on our hearts broken by the first Adam, summarized at Sinai, taught on by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, kept by the second Adam, Jesus, for us, now, through the Gospel, is to be lived out by us in free, joyful obedience. That was a mouthful. But if you take the pages of Genesis to Revelation, you see God's abiding moral law, written on the heart of Adam and Eve, broken, of course, thus plunging all of humanity into sin. Summarized, if you will, in the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, Jesus, not giving a new law, but teaching upon the existing and abiding moral law of God in the Sermon on the Mount, uses these very commandments to help His people understand the ways of God and to correct the false teaching of the Pharisees. It was kept by Jesus for us, in our stead. And now, as we, through the gospel, live out lives of obedience, we looked to this list as a way of understanding the will of God. If we had many, many hours tonight, we'd walk slowly through all of this. But let me walk very quickly and succinctly through about two minutes worth of the explanation as to why the second commandment, which we'll look at tonight, even still matters. the law written on the heart of man. Romans 2 verses 14 and 15 reads this way. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves. Even though they do not have the law, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. Romans 2 verses 14 and 15. or the idea that the law was given to Adam. Hosea 6, 7, But like Adam they transgressed the covenant, there they dealt faithlessly with me. Adam being under a covenant of works, the moral law written on his heart, and given one positive precept related to a tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But we also see the law before we even see it fleshed out in the Ten Commandments. The patriarchs demonstrate the belief that having no other God is normative. Graven images and idols show up several times in Genesis as problematic. This is all before the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath is mentioned at creation and in Exodus 16. Dishonoring parents shows up in Esau. Murder shows up in Cain. Sexual immorality shows up in many of the Genesis narratives. Jacob and Laban steal from one another, and Rachel steals from her father. Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Jacob all demonstrate deceit and lies, and Cain covets his brother's offering. And in all of these stories in the Old Testament, pre-Ten Commandments, we're not meant to read them as if everything is okay. God's view of morality, his universal law, is seen before the Ten Commandments are given. In other words, the moral law of God wasn't new at Mount Sinai. In fact, in Genesis 26, verse 5, we read this, Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Well, if we had time tonight, we'd look at all of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, as well as Deuteronomy 5. Suffice it to say, these commandments stand out. They are written, if you will, by God's own finger. Now, in the Old Testament, we have two different ways of looking at law. Moral law and positive law. The moral law of God, the abiding law, which reveals His character, is summarized in the Ten Commandments. And positive law. Positive law, boys and girls, would be an example of why Pastor Ryan likes to still eat shrimp and other animals declared unclean in the Old Testament. It's not that those laws weren't important when they were given, but they were given positively for a period of time. Whereas God's moral law, the law that you and I are responsible to as sinners, is abiding and is summarized as we've seen earlier in the Ten Commandments. But we could read verse after verse this evening. But my point is at this juncture we would believe that the Ten Commandments are a summary which are given to believers now as a way of glorifying the Lord. Matthew 5 through 7 is Jesus' teaching on the law of God. In fact, in Matthew 5, verse 43 and 44, he says this, Many have tried to argue that what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount is giving a new law. I don't think this is correct. I think Jesus is Re-instructing his listeners to a proper understanding of God's law. That aside, where did the scriptures ever say, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy? They don't. Jesus rather takes people back to the commandments. Matthew 15, he instructs the Pharisees in the fifth commandment. And on and on and on it goes. The law of God has three purposes. It reveals sin and points to the need for Christ. When you read the Ten Commandments, or Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, or His summary of the law, love God and love neighbor, if you're honest with yourself, you see there your own need for Christ. You see there your moral laxness. You see there your resume of guilt. It reveals sin and points to the need for Christ. In some sense, it also restrains sin. But thirdly, it serves as a rule of life for the Christian. This is what J.C. Ryle wrote in the 1800s. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a Christian has nothing to do with the law and the Ten Commandments. because he cannot be justified by keeping them. The same Holy Ghost who convinces the believer of sin by the law and leads him to Christ for justification will always lead him to a spiritual use of the law as a friendly guide in the pursuit of sanctification. So I would encourage you tonight, perhaps jot down some of these verses which I'll mention briefly. And as we move on this week, consider reading again these passages regarding moral law of God. See the use of the Ten Commandments over and over and over again in the New Testament. Romans 13, 8-10. James 2, 10-12. Matthew 5, 17-19. Romans 3, 31. 1 Corinthians 7.19, 1 Timothy 1.8-11. Of course, this is a long discussion. But if we're going to make the case that you and I ought to view the second commandment as important, then we need to consider, are these laws for us today? But one final word. An argument might be given that goes like this. If we say that there is still law, what does that do to the gospel? But the gospel is in no way compromised by the law of God. The gospel doesn't do away with the law, it upholds it. But the law being upheld in no way does away with the free grace we have in Christ. Galatians 3.21, Romans 6.15. So, beloved, let us look to this law of Christ as the law which no longer condemns us, but is like a tool in our hands as we seek to glorify Christ. So the first commandment then is, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Number one, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods before me." Notice how the law of God begins in Exodus. I am the God who saved you. I am the God who brought you out of slavery. Of course, this would not be the first time that the people of Israel would hear the statement that there is no other God but our God. Genesis 1-1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Later, Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And it's this first commandment which we see fleshed out over the Old Testament and the New. Just a smattering of verses. Joshua 24, verses 14 and 15. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him. in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. 1 Kings 18 21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. Matthew 6 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. And how is it that the Apostle John ends his first letter, 1 John 5, 21, little children, keep yourselves from idols. I'm sure in this crowd tonight, I don't have to convince anyone that the first commandment abides, but there might be a slight misunderstanding about the first commandment. Look at it closely with me. It's a simple phrase. You shall have no other gods before me. For years, I read that and looked at the English construction and did with it what most people would do when they see the word before. Make me first. You shall have no other gods before me, so make me first. And that's true. That is a part of the first commandment. But the first commandment literally reads this way. You shall have no other gods before my face. In other words, I, your God, who does not have a face, I do not have a body like men, I am spirit, But if we were to anthropomorphize this whole thing, make me like humans, if I had a face, I don't want to see any other gods. You see, the Lord is not saying in the first commandments, have whatever you want, just make me first. That's not what He's saying alone. He's not saying, I just want to be first. God is saying, I don't want you to have any other gods. He is not saying, you can have other gods, you can worship other things in your heart, just put me first. No, he is saying in front of my face, in front of my eyes, there are to be no other gods. We are to cry out to God from our hearts like the psalmist, whom have I in heaven but you? And so really every sin of any stripe is breaking the first commandment. Every sin of every stripe is breaking the first commandment. Every idol, even if kept small and in proportion to the love that we have for God, nowhere near the greatness that we revere our God with. If we have other gods, if our hearts are divided in worship, if we have any other gods with a little g, then we have gods before the face of our God. And we are breakers of the first commandment. The first commandment has a positive and a negative aspect, by the way. The positive is this, what we're told to do. The positive is I must be your God. So why is atheism a sin? Well, among other things, it's a breaking of the first commandment. We don't make up our minds to choose God and then become bound by the first commandment. No, we're born under the first commandment. So for instance, if God is not your God, you're breaking the first commandment. But what's the negative? We're told what to do, and then, as we'll see with all of the commandments, in a sense, there's something we're told to do and something we're told not to do, explicitly or by implication. The negative component is we must avoid any other gods. You see, we must, on the basis of this commandment, make God our only God and forsake all others. So as we move into the second commandment, if we don't have the first commandment right, all of the other commandments will not follow as they ought. So for instance, here's a list of things that we see in the pages of Scripture, and certainly in our world today, which is a breaking of the first commandment. Idolatry. Giving something else worship from our hearts. Sorcery and superstition. Breaks the first commandment because it attributes God's power to something else. Relying on something. Falsely. Breaks the first commandment. It's saying that something else can provide like God can. Creature worship. Like adding to the worship of our Christ, the worship, or at least speaking to, of saints. Worshipping our own bodies. Pride. Saying that others must view me like a God. This could be big things. Or it could be simply how we drive on the road in traffic. Why do we often use our horn? Perhaps it's because we're right about a red light, or the fact that someone is driving too slow, but oftentimes, even the way we drive reveals that we believe the world should turn and follow our way and our desires. On and on and on it goes. When we have any other gods or attribute the attributes of our God to other things. Incorrectly. We have other gods before the face of our God. But then that takes us to the second commandment. Throughout church history, these two commandments have either been kept separate or have been confused. I mean, think about it. The first commandment is have no other gods before me. And then depending on your translation, the second commandment says, you shall not make for yourself an idol. And that sounds an awful lot like the first commandment. No false gods, no idols, which are false gods. But the second commandment is not simply a prohibition of other gods. That's already been given. The second commandment is a prohibition of the representation of God or the worship of God in ways that God has not given. How do we see this in the pages of Scripture? Well, Adam and Eve hiding from God. They imagined God couldn't see him. Aaron in Exodus 32, 1 through 7. Do you remember the story of the golden calf boys and girls? Oftentimes we think that the golden calf story was a breaking of the first commandment. We often think, well their problem was they were worshipping a cow instead of worshipping the Lord. And they were doing that in a sense. But Aaron's leadership of the people was really a second commandment issue. Turn over a few pages to Exodus 32. Exodus 32, do you remember what it was that he led the people to do. Exodus 32, Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of this man. And Aaron said to them, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf. Then they said, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. There's the first commandment being broken. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, and listen closely, tomorrow is a feast to Yahweh. We're going to make a visible representation and use it in the worship of the Lord, Yahweh, the right, the true, the real, the living God. Yes, the people are screaming out, give us gods. And under Aaron's leadership, what is occurring? The true and right God is being praised in a sense, falsely, incorrectly, in a way that God has not given. Of course, who can forget the story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10? God did not tell them to offer the fire that they offered. Or the story of Jehu in 2 Kings 10. Turn there with me briefly. 2 Kings 10. 2 Kings 10 verse 28. A long history of good kings and bad kings. Kings being deposed, and kings being declared by God to be righteous kings. And we're in the midst of this back and forth. And notice what happens. Now it happened, as soon as he had made an end of the offering and burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in and kill them. Let no one come out. And they killed them with the edge of the sword. Then the guards and the officers threw them out and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal. And they brought the sacred pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned them. Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal, and made it a refuge stump to this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel." Good, have no other gods before my face, first commandment. But notice what happens next. However, However, Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabot, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan. And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, your son shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. For he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam who had made Israel sin." What were the sins of Jeroboam? 1 Kings chapter 12. Changing the way that God was to be worshipped. Have no other gods before Me, and don't craft for yourselves representations of Me, or ways of worshipping Me that I have not given to you." See, God is jealous for His own worship. So I hope what you're seeing tonight is that the law of God, as summarized in the Ten Commandments, is still for us. But specifically as we look at it, the first one is, before My face, no other gods. It's not good for you to offer praise to false gods. Don't just put me first. Don't have anyone else in the list. But secondly, in addition to not having other gods before my face, don't represent me or worship me using other creatures and images and false ways of worship. You see, God is zealous for his own worship, and that he be the only God. We could continue through the text, example after example, where either the people of God have other gods before him, or they seek to worship him in ways that he has not commanded. And if we walk through the pages of Scripture, we see this over and over again. Isaiah 40, 18, to whom then will you like in God or what likeness compare with him? Romans 1, 22, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. So beloved, as we look at these commandments tonight, we see here already our own failure. of having other gods in our lives, our own names, money, sex, power, riches, or literally other gods of false religion. But we often, in our minds, if not with our bodies and our art, seek to worship God in ways that God hasn't commanded. And that takes us to what is written in the catechism. Question 96, what does God require in the second commandment? That we in no wise make any image of God, nor worship him in any other way than he is commanded in his word. Question 97, must we then not make any image at all? God may not and cannot be imaged in any way. As for creatures, though they may indeed be imaged, yet God forbids the making or keeping any likeness of them, either to worship them or by them to serve himself." In other words, the issue is not that we can't have art. It's not that we can't paint beautiful pictures of creation or take photography and snap away the beautiful parts of the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest or a forest or an ocean. These things can glorify God as image bearers. We show off His creation. The second commandment speaks to how we worship God and how we image God. Question 98. But may not pictures be tolerated in churches as books for the laity? Now we're getting somewhere, aren't we? No, for we should not be wiser than God, who will not have his people taught by dumb idols, but by the lively preaching of his word. See, the Reformers made a big deal about the preaching of the word of Christ being the means through which Christ would save his people and have them instructed. So what are some lessons then for us as we consider as we close the second commandment? Well, the first is this. When we worship God in ways that God has not commanded or picture God in ways that God has not given, we are breaking the second commandment. Secondly, as we look through the pages of scripture, there are God-given ways for public worship. If you want a picture to worship the Lord by, he's given you some. baptism, and the Lord's Supper. They are pictures. They are the Word in visible form. We could walk through all of the pages of Scripture and look at this further. We could then move into a discussion of the right worship of God, known as the regulative principle, which the Reformers grounded in this very commandment. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, and perhaps here many of us might disagree. Let me just read for the sake of making it clear that Pastor Ryan has not jumped off the edge of the cliff, our own church's statement of faith. The Baptist Confession, chapter 22, verse 1. The light of nature shows that there is a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all. is just, good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. So what might be wrong with a picture of one of the members of the Trinity? Well, when you craft a sculpture, a picture, a crude drawing, just pencil, you are never fully encapsulating who that image actually represents. You might be thinking to yourself, well, yes, that's true of the Father and of the Spirit, but the Son of God became man. Okay, let's go there, since you thought it. When you draw an image of the second person of the Trinity, are you drawing His divinity? Well, no, but He became man. Yes, but is your Christ only man? Or is He also fully God? And herein was where the Reformers said, we ought not draw or represent, according to the second commandment, any members of the Trinity. They are who we worship. And if you're looking honestly at your own heart tonight, ask yourself this, if you were to see a picture of the Son of God, your thought might be, well, that's not something I use to worship God. But can you actually look at a picture of Jesus without thinking of Jesus in a way that wants to worship him? Can you actually do that? Can you look at Jesus, that we don't know what he looked like, and see him on a canvas or in a photograph, often wrongly drawn with blue eyes and blonde hair? Can you do that without thinking of wanting to worship this Christ? I don't think we can if we know Him and we love Him. So it would be better for us to hear His Word and read it, and if we want pictures to regularly come to baptism in the Lord's Supper. Now, obviously there will be a variety of opinions on this application, but I must give it to us. We are not to make images of anything in the heavens above. or on the earth beneath and use it in our worship. The problem is we've all broken the first commandment. We've all broken the second commandment. And as we'll see over the next few weeks in our actions or in our minds or both, we've broken all of God's law. What will become of us? We have sinned against a God who is jealous for his own worship. We've had other gods before him. And then there comes into our ears to the preaching of the word, the reading of the word, the singing of the word, the Lord's Supper. The message again. I offer you life. I've died for your sins. There is nothing that you have done for which I have not paid the penalty in full. There is no guilt that you can have nor stain that could be applied to you that will stick because I, your Savior, have died for you. I lived in your stead and I died in your stead and I was raised And so when you look to the law to glorify me and you see a thousand times a thousand that you have failed, know that I have never failed and that every time you read in the scriptures, me perfectly as a man obeying the father, know that that is now what is on your account. So when I don't lust and when I don't have other gods and when I don't worship or think things about the God of the scriptures, in ways that I ought not. And when you never see me stealing and when you never see me coveting, that is what is on your account by faith. And so now, this law becomes not a horrible enemy condemning, but a simple guide, fail as we might, to help us understand how we might glorify the Christ who saves. no other gods before my face, worshiping me in ways that I've commanded, not making images of me, which will always fail to picture who I really am in full, but looking to my word and my promise and trusting me to save. Let's pray. Almighty God, tonight we come to another difficult section of your scripture. Whenever we look at your law, it often reveals to us in one way or another our own failure. We pray tonight that we would live in accordance with your law, not to earn our standing with you, but because of our standing with you, one that is full and complete. For you made him who knew no sin to be sin. so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So Lord, tonight we pray that we would look to your scriptures, specifically your law, as a guide for how we might live lives which please you, because you've already made us your own. In Jesus' name, amen.