Sunday, March 26, 2023 PM

AC?

Is it not on?

Do we need to turn it on?

It's on heat.

Do we need to turn it on the cool?

What do you think about there?

Alright, let's open our Bibles and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5.

And we're going to think about the meaning of the second

commandment in light of the creation, in light of the covenants that God made

throughout Biblical history.

The second commandment in light of Jesus Christ, we've been looking at all of that thus far.

And now our task tonight is to consider the relevance of

the second commandment in light of who Jesus Christ is and how it is

still significant for us today as we follow Jesus Christ.

So, Deuteronomy chapter 5, we're going to read the

first and second commandment again.

Before we do, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time that you have given to us.

I pray that you would help us as we read your word, that you would help us to understand the meaning of the text,

and that we would rejoice in the truth of Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

Alright, Deuteronomy chapter 5, beginning in verse 1.

And Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and

judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.

The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are

here today, all of us who are alive.

The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.

I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for

you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain.

He said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,

or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the

fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who

hate me.".

Okay, so just a reminder of the second commandment in its context, something that

God specifically said to Israel in the covenant

that he made with them.

Now, we've thought about the significance of idolatry given the

created order, given that God is creator and everything else is creation, that we are

made in God's image, that God promised to send forth his own

son, and we found him to be the image of the invisible God.

We see that God is not against images per se, but that having

made us in his image, we were made not to be worshiped, but to worship.

And now we're thinking about the remaining significance.

What is idolatry in light of Jesus Christ?

We are not called in the New Testament to keep the law, we are called to fulfill the

law.

We're not trying to keep up with a list, we're following our Savior who is the end

of the law unto righteousness for everyone who believes.

Now, idolatry is still wrong, but first, what is an idol?

What is an idol?

What would be a good.

Definition?

What would we say an idol is?

Okay, so we've got

anything else you might think of how to describe an idol?

While you were worshiped,

this is...yes, go ahead.

Dwight, you were cooking on something, so go ahead.

I don't want to interrupt

you.

God is a jealous God, yes.

This is the way.

That we tend to take a stab at idolatry.

And one of the reasons is, and this is good, that we

instinctively see how closely related the first and second commandments are,

right?

But this, if we take it to

a very careful and precise meaning, this is how you break

the first commandment, right?

Now, we

often just immediately, we just substitute the

word God, little g, little g God, for idol.

That's not entirely wrong, correct?

I mean, when the children of Israel worshipped idols, what were they doing?

They were worshipping false gods.

Their affections had been turned away from the one true God to false gods, and that was evident as they were

putting sacrifices out and bowing down before these blocks of wood, for these

idols, correct?

But it is important to remember

that when Moses came down the mountain, he found Israel breaking the second commandment, but

not the first, right?

They were worshipping a graven image, calling it Yahweh, the one true God.

So, they were not breaking the first commandment, but they were breaking the second.

It's important to know that there is still a difference, there is still a distinction.

Our modern, the way that we, as Christians, we tend to just simply say

that an idol is anything that takes the place of God, and again, we understand there's a connection between the first and second

commandment.

But what is an idol, right?

What is an idol?

So, in the commandment, it says, it starts off by saying, do not make for

yourself, right?

Do not make for yourself, and there was something in using the tools, using a

crafting approach to create something in the likeness of anything in heaven or

on earth or in the ocean, in the waters, anything above, around, or below,

that then to worship that, right?

Then to worship that, to bow down before it, use it to venerate, use it for spiritual

purposes.

So, in particular, the idol is something that we craft,

but it is very much in connection with false gods,

right?

False gods.

So, that's important for us to think about because when we get to the New Testament and we begin to

learn what the scriptures have to tell us about idolatry

in the New Testament, it's important to keep that in mind.

So, let's read some passages together.

Colossians chapter 3 and 2 Corinthians 3.

So, Colossians 3, 2 Corinthians 3.

We'll be going to both passages.

So, Colossians 3 is very helpful because it explains

to us what God has for us in terms of growing in

godliness, right?

So, that's the desire of every believer, of every Christian, is to grow in godliness,

to grow in holiness.

And there's all kinds of artificial,

fake ways that are sold under that heading, and Paul doesn't want the Colossians to mess

around with any of that.

So, he speaks against that in chapter 2, and then he gets down to what real godliness

and real holiness is all about in chapter 3.

So, let's look at chapter 3 beginning in verse 1.

If then you were raised with Christ, are you born again, are you alive with Christ, are you

united to him through faith, then you are raised with him.

Because he is raised, you are raised.

Because he is alive, you are alive spiritually.

If this is the case, seek those things which are above where Christ is

sitting at the right hand of God.

In other words, let him control your affections.

That's where you should put your desires, upon Christ.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died, again, your union with Christ, you died to the old man, you died to sin,

for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in

glory.

United with Christ, his death is our death, his life is our life, his glory is our glory.

Verse 5.

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth.

The parts of your life that have no business being a part of you.

Like Lazarus shedding the grave clothes.

This is what you put aside.

Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire,

and covetousness which is idolatry.

We're going to come back to that.

Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once

walked when you lived in them.

But now, you yourselves are to put off all these.

Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man,

who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

For there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, slave nor free, but Christ is

all and in all.

So once again, we are reminded that Jesus Christ is the image of the creator.

He is the image of God.

And what is godliness?

Well, it's looking like Jesus.

It's growing up into who Christ is.

We've talked about how we resemble what we revere.

And if you worship idols who have eyes that can't see, ears that can't hear, and made

-up bodies who can't do anything, then we end up as dead as they are.

But if we worship Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, what is the

result of us glorying in Christ?

What is the result of us worshiping Christ?

It's life.

It's liveliness.

It's true life.

Now, let's come back to this phrase.

Paul says, covetousness is idolatry.

Covetousness is idolatry.

So, the 10th commandment deals with covetousness.

Now, what is covetousness?

Covetousness is desiring that which is forbidden to you.

It's pretty general.

Desiring that which is forbidden to you.

In other words, there could be something really good, like a house.

Something really good, like an apple orchard.

Wow, those things are good.

And you can look on those things as they look at that beautiful house, and look at that attached apple orchard, and

wow, what a picturesque, beautiful scene.

That's amazing.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But when you look at it, and you're like, I can't believe that they get to live there, and I don't.

Whoops.

That's not yours.

And you're desiring it, and getting bitter, and jealous, and envious, and so on, because you don't have it.

So, your desires are not being properly ordered.

They're disordered.

And Paul says that covetousness and idolatry are connected.

Covetousness and idolatry are connected.

How is that?

Well, it's very simple.

In desiring something else, when our affections redirect us away from

God, when our affections redirect us away from God, and we begin to seek our

satisfaction, and our fulfillment in something other than God,

you know what happens?

We begin crafting for ourselves an

ultimate authority that agrees with us.

Right?

You know, in other words, you've heard people say, well, I like to think of God

as, really?

Listen to how, I like to think of God as?

Well, so you're not getting your input from the scriptures.

Maybe you're taking some ideas from the Bible, and then some ideas from your human experience, and I like to.

So, your affections, your desires are informing your version of God.

You are crafting for yourself an idea of God

that accords with your disordered affections, your disordered desires.

That's why Paul says covetousness is idolatry.

Second commandment, right?

So, the beginning of the commandments and the end of the commandments are

connected.

Are connected.

When you start off by proper worship of God and affection and desire to God, have no other gods

before me, and then do not craft anything by which to worship me, and you get to the end, and there's a two

-part commandment talking about thou shalt not covet this or that or anything else that doesn't

belong to you.

You've come, in a sense, full circle to the same issues, to the same issues at heart.

So, that's why covetousness is idolatry.

Now, there is still a crafting that goes on, right?

There is a looking upon and desiring of something that doesn't belong to you, that is not rightly accorded to you,

but you desire it so much that you begin to reconfigure God.

You begin to reconfigure ultimate authority to cohere with what you want, even

though it's forbidden to you.

That reconfiguring, that's the crafting of idols.

You don't have to be a metalsmith.

You don't have to be a woodworker to make idols, but the making of idols

still exists.

And what happens is, what you're doing, once your desires are disordered and you're having the wrong

desires, and then you begin to reconfigure ultimate authority, reconfigure God to match that, that

is called lying.

You're making stuff up.

It doesn't accord with truth.

It accords with your desires, but your desires are wicked and deceitful.

The heart is deceitful.

Who can know it?

The Bible asks.

And this is important because

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10,

he says that the power behind idols

is demons.

So 1 Corinthians chapter 10, in

verse 7, he says, do not become idolaters like the Israelites of old.

Verse 14, he says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

He says in verse 19, he recognizes that idols are just chunks of wood, just

chunks of metal, so what's the big deal?

But he says, what am I saying then?

That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

Verse 20, rather that the things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice

to demons and not to God.

And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons.

Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy, which again was in the commandment about

don't make idols.

Don't use idols to worship God.

So, because we live in the new covenant, let's just be clear about this.

Because we live in the new covenant, spiritual warfare is about truth, not territory.

Spiritual warfare is about truth, not territory.

And if you're creating ideas about God that are untrue

to match your evil desires, the power behind that is demonic.

Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies, right?

So you can trace back all of the deceptions and lies back to the father of lies.

And so Paul is saying, I know that that block of wood is meaningless, is not really

alive, and there's not some true God of the moon who is

sitting up there saying, I really like that sacrifice.

Oh, that was lovely.

That's not happening.

That's ridiculous.

Paul knows that the priests of the temple come in and they dress up their little

doll for the sacrifices of the day.

He knows they come in later and remove the food and take it and go eat it or resell it.

He knows that's how it works.

It's not anything.

But the deception, the lies of it all, that is a problem and to be

avoided.

In 1 John chapter 5, very last verse of 1

John, now it's important to consider

the context of all of 1 John.

John has been contending for the truth of the incarnation, that God the Son has taken upon human

flesh and come into the world, and that he is truly God and he's truly man.

And there are many who were trying to dispel that idea, twist that idea, teach false things about

Christ.

And after contending for the faith time and time and time again, and refuting all of the

false teachers who would twist the truth of Jesus, he concludes, verse 21,

1 John 5, last word he says to them, little children, keep yourselves from

idols.

Well, he spent the whole book and he never talked about people using silver and gold and wood

to make little things to put on their mantle and bow down to.

So why is he bringing up idols now?

Because he spent the whole book saying, do not buy in to these false

ideas that people have crafted about who Jesus Christ is.

If you buy into that, you are buying into idolatry.

Because they wanted a Jesus that fit their model.

Jesus today is the most, people are always creating idols of Jesus,

right?

One of the most famous ones is the guy who's high on dope and he's like, if

Jesus was here, he'd be hanging with us, doing all our stuff, right?

Or the famous, the search for the historical Jesus where Protestant

liberals got together and they cut up the New Testament, cut up the Gospels and said, well, only about 11 of what

we have in the Gospels is what Jesus said.

And lo and behold, it was the stuff they agreed with.

You know, they made Jesus sound like a Protestant liberal.

That's idolatry.

It's crafting God to match our disordered affections.

Now, this is important.

Remember that the Ten Commandments are structured in a chiasm where there's

concentric parallels moving into the very heart of the matter.

Verse six, which says, do not murder.

Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning.

Idolatry is a matter of life and death, right?

Those who worship idols and make idols become like them, dead, right?

False worship.

But those who worship Christ become like him.

Last passage and we'll close.

Second Corinthians chapter three.

And

we'll begin in verse 18.

It says, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory

of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,

just as by the spirit of the Lord.

To embrace idolatry is death.

Romans 1, 18 through 32 talks about that, who exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God

for the images made incorruptible man.

And they begin to worship idols.

They worship themselves.

Their desires were for themselves.

And so they turned in on themselves and thus they break out into abominable passions, which leads

into homosexuality and lesbianism, which leads into all of the rest of the abominations and

the end thereof is death, right?

So idolatry is death.

But those who look upon Christ and desire Christ and have their affections for him, what is the outcome?

It's life.

And that's what's at stake.

So when it comes to the second commandment, why are we not to craft

that for ourselves?

Why are we not to have our own, as they say, Ikea God?

I want to put him together in the way that I like.

I'm a custom order God for me.

What's the end thereof?

It's death.

We don't custom make God.

He custom made us, right?

It's the total reverse.

And so once we recognize that we're not in the business of customizing God, we confess God.

We just agree with who he is and what he's already said that we may know life.

Okay, so that concludes our look at the second commandment.

And then next time we have opportunity, we'll begin looking at the third commandment in its

context.

Let's go.