Our scripture reading is from Deuteronomy 4. Last week we considered the first part. Now we'll pick up reading in verse 12, where Moses is reflecting on the time when they heard the law, the circumstances in which it took place, and one particular aspect of it is that they heard the voice of God, but they saw no likeness. No similitude of God. And that's what the second commandment, of course, is all about. So, Deuteronomy 4, verse 12, And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude. Only you heard a voice. And He declared unto you His covenant. which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess it. Take you therefore good heed to yourselves, for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male and female, the likeness of any beast that is on earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars in all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided into all nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord hath taken you and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee for inheritance. But I must die in this land. I must not go over Jordan, but you shall go over and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make your graven image for the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. As far as the reading of God's holy and infallible word to us. Dear congregation, last week we considered the first commandment to have no other gods, he says, before me. Means literally before my face or in my presence. We saw that we have to serve Him exclusively. No other gods before me. The second commandment forbids using images in worship. In other words, the first commandment is about who we worship and serve. The second is how. In what manner. How to serve him acceptably. So the first commandment is about serving God and worshipping God exclusively, no other gods. And the second is worshipping Him acceptably in a way that is pleasing to Him. And anything outside of that by definition is displeasing and offending. and we do that with God's help from Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 23 where really Moses actually God through Moses for the third time says no likeness take heed unto yourselves verse 23 lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God has forbidden thee But the solemn warning, for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. The Lord thy God. So that's the second commandment, and we read it of course from Deuteronomy 5, what the second commandment is all about, no graven images. Deuteronomy 5 verse 8. Or of course in Exodus 20, you find almost exactly the same. Of course, this is the second reading, Deuteronomy, second law, or second reading of the law, 40 years later, when they are about to enter, Cain and Moses said, I cannot go with you. I will die here, but you will go in. No graven image, any likeness of anything in heaven above, earth beneath, waters beneath, the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation to them that hate me in other words, if you don't do it, you hate me but then he goes on to say, thankfully, he was ten and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments and then the catechism to go with this is LDS 35 question 96 what does God require in the second commandment? We find on page 72 in Psalter, that we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He is commanded in His word. Question 97, are images then not at all to be made? And the answer, God neither can nor may be represented by any means, but as to creatures, though they may be represented. Yet God forbids to make or have any resemblance of them either in order to worship them or to serve God by them. Question 98. But may not images be tolerated in the churches as books to the laity? That's how the Roman Catholic Church would say it. That's why they had images all through the church. They said they were books to the laity. Then the people who couldn't read could read the stories displayed. Answer is no. but must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have his people taught, not by dumb images that can't speak, but by the lively preaching of his word. So the theme is, worship the Lord acceptably. In first place, no images of God himself, second, no images in God's service, and third, No images, but God's image. So, no images of God Himself. No images in God's service. No images, but God's image. That's about worshipping the Lord acceptably. So, no images of God Himself. Take heed, the Texas. Watch out. Be careful. Be on the alert. Take heed to yourselves. Be strict about yourself. And God says, it's for my glory, but it's for your good. Lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you. We saw that last time too. When He spoke from verse 13, He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded. And He made it clear that the law was given in the context of the covenant of grace, not the covenant of works. It's not, do this, and then I'll deliver you from Egypt. No, God says, I delivered you from Egypt. He sang it, He read it. I set you free to serve Me. So the deliverance unto Mount Sinai, because you are now gifted to keep it. What a wonder, that God does not put us to work, to the law, to earn our salvation. It would be a hopeless situation. That's really what all other religions are in. trying to please a God who is not the God of the scriptures, who is not perfect and people try to do their best and they think somehow that when we do the best, then somehow God will do the rest. Let's pretty much summarize how many people think about religion. Takheed, lest you forget what you saw and what you heard on that Mount Sinai. Or maybe you should say, lest you forget what you did not see. on the mount. You saw the fire, you saw the smoke, you felt the earthquake, but you saw no similitude. You saw no form, no likeness of anything or anyone. You only heard a voice. That's significant. Throughout the history of the church, we hear a voice. Even when Jesus walked upon this earth, He was veiled. He had veiled his divinity. The people just heard a voice. Some believed, some did not. You'd think if anybody would have believed anybody, it would have been people seeing and hearing Jesus. Many did not. I am the Lord, your God. Repeat that hearing, even in chapter 4 of Deuteronomy. I think it's about 10 times that the Lord repeats that. Because He wants us to remind us that we should not just obey, do what we are called to do, but first be what we are supposed to be. First reconcile with God, and then out of that flows grateful, joyous obedience. Moses repeats it about five times. In this chapter, you heard the voice of the words, but you saw no similitude, you saw no image, no likeness, you only heard a voice. Verse 15, He said, Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves, for ye saw no manner of similitude. Verse 12, you heard the voice of words, but you saw no similitude. Well, if that's been repeated a couple of times, you can only begin to understand how important it is. They did not see God, but they heard Him. He had a voice of the words, ten words, as it were. Law and Gospel. The covenant was made with Abraham and renewed with his descendants at Mount Sinai. But the covenant came first. Faith first, then obedience. You see? That's the order. Faith lays hold on life. And out of that life we can obey. Without faith we have no life. We cannot begin to obey the law of God. And so the Lord renewed the covenant again with the people of Israel, just before they entered Canaan, in Deuteronomy. And Moses, as it were, reviews the whole thing, the whole law. The same what he heard at the mountain Mount Sinai. And so he renews that covenant every time he comes. Every time he comes to church. Every time. Every Sunday morning. And I say it again. The first thing we hear from the Word of God is, I am the Lord, your God. I brought you out of Egypt and none of us have ever perhaps been in Egypt. And yet we have all been led out of Egypt. been separated from the Egypt of his world from under the ruler and dictations and the power of Satan under the power of God to become his people. Now that doesn't automatically save us but it is a great privilege. Many did not believe and they perished in the wilderness. Are you going to be one of those? You see that it's one thing to perish as a Gentile as a heathen who never heard the word of God but it's quite another to perish as one of the people of God God says in Psalm 95 7, He is our God. People think that. We are the people of His pasture. Today, if you'll hear His voice, harden not your heart. And that's Psalm 95, but it's quoted a number of times in Hebrews 3 and 4. In other words, it is still of effect today to the people of God today, to the Christians today. The New Testament covenant people, that's what they are. Jews and Gentiles mixed, we have heard about that from the book of Acts and again this afternoon, Lord willing. So God says, you are my people and I want you to worship me only, first commandment, and only in the way I command, second commandment, acceptably. Question 96, what does the Lord require in the second commandment? That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word. Worship the Lord acceptably. That means in a way that is acceptable to God. Accepted in the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. Without making Him visible. No images of Him. Why is that? Why does the Lord want us to have no images of Him? Well, first of all, simply because He commands it. Even if He would give no reason. He is God. He made us. He says, Thou shalt not. That should be sufficient, but there are some reasons. First of all, God is invisible. We cannot even make images. It says in the answer, we cannot. Are we allowed? So, no images. We will talk about that a bit more in a moment. But God is invisible. It says in John 4.24, God is a spirit. And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Second reason is God is holy. God is holy. So holy that the holy angels in His presence, what do they do? They covered their faces and their feet with their wings because they cannot dare to look upon the holiness of God. That doesn't mean they see God Himself, but they see His holiness, His purity. How much more we sinners couldn't dare to be in His presence. He says, I'm a consuming fire. Even as the Lord your God He is not only consuming fire to the world, but He is even consuming fire to His own people. There must be a shield in between, and we do have a shield. Thanks be to God, that is Jesus Himself. He is the mediator. Without a mediator, we would be consumed in an instant. That's why here is a consuming fire, Moses in Exodus 33.20 says, Thou canst not see my face, God says to Moses. Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Except of course the man Christ Jesus, because he is God. And then the third reason is God is greater than all that he has made. How could we make anything? I mean, the whole entire universe is smaller than he. So even the people that worship sun, moon and stars in the universe, they have a sense of the greatness of God, but that's too small. God is offended when we picture Him as the universe, because He's greater. I mean, God says in Isaiah 40 verse 18, to whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him? You see the most exalted thing that we can imagine, think about the word imagine, an image, the most exalted thing that we can imagine is greater than, God is greater than that. The most exalted thing I read debases God. Paul says in Romans 1.23, he says that The people changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So no images of God Himself. It's utterly ridiculous that man would make something and worship it. But you know, deep down people know that. They know that, that it cannot do anything because they made it themselves. But what they try to do often, and it's a more subtle sin, and it's a sin that we are very prone to too, we'll get to that in a moment, is that we worship not it, but God through it. Somehow pretending that, we'll get to that as we get to the second point now, no images in God's service. Because that's a subtle thing, you see. No images in God's service. So no images of God himself, period. But no images of anything or anyone in his service either. In other words, you cannot make something invisible and then pretend and say, but I worship the real God, this is just something that I look at. God says, I don't want it, because it debases me. I'm invisible, I'm holy, and I'm greater than anything that is made. So no images even in our mind. A mental image. You know, sometimes people have these jokes, these cartoons, and they picture God as a man with a beard. An old man with a beard. It's an offense to God. Because you project something that's as small and teeny as we are into God. We cannot create an image of God after our likeness. He created us after His likeness of anything that is made. Because He says, the danger, we read it in Deuteronomy 4, verse 16, 17 and 18 and so forth, and 19. He says, lest you corrupt yourself and that you make a graven image, the simility of any figure, likeness of male, female, beast, bird, fish, sun, moon, stars, lest ye be driven to worship them, and serve them. Because God says, if you make something, and you can pretend to worship me through it, you are ending up worshipping them. Because I won't receive it, it's not acceptable. So even in our minds, whatever we think of God in our minds, Which is not according to the scriptures, is image worship. The God of our imagination, you see. That's what happens all around the world. People worship God as their own fancy dictates. As they can imagine it. Now, part of their imagination is probably rooted in some vague tradition that has been passed on from father to son over the generations. Somehow people all have a sense that there is a God And the sense that he is up there somewhere, so that's why the sun and the moon and the stars are being worshipped so much. Or a river, like the river Nile, because it gives, every spring gives water for the crops and all that. Now there is truth of course, in seeing God in the creation. The firmament declares his glory. There is truth in seeing God there, but there is also temptation in seeing Him there. But we worship Him in the way that meets the eye, because we just want something to see and touch and handle. Creation is impressive, but it is not God. We cannot worship it, but we must worship Him. The Israelites were warned to not copy the practice of the surrounding nations. Question 97. Are images there not at all to be made? God neither can, we saw that already, nor may be represented by any means. But as to creatures, yes, they may be represented. Yet God forbids to make or have any resemblance of them either to worship them, first commandment, or to serve God by them, second commandment. You see, this is what happened really with the golden calf. Now, you could argue both ways, but an interesting thought is this. You could say, well, they were worshipping the golden calf when they made it, and it was quite soon after they got the Ten Commandments. Moses was with God on the mountain for 40 days, and in the meantime they were pressing Aaron to make a golden calf and they were dancing and feasting around it and they would do it in a wicked, lewd way too. They were not only copying the worship but also the adulterous things that happened in those countries. With it. They were naked. They were drunk. They were debased. Amazing. They had just before trembled at the mountain when God spoke and now they are like that. But I want you to listen How Aaron introduced it when he had made it. He says, we shall have a feast unto the Lord. Exodus 32 verse 5. Desperately trying to pretend to not worship the calf, like the Egyptians did it. But God threw it. God says, I don't want it. Didn't I give you the second commandment? No images. To bow to them. or to serve me through them so they were worshipping a golden calf but they were doing that in a way different of course than the Egyptians and the other people they worshipped them they tried to worship God through them and so Aaron tried to excuse himself and pacify his conscience and so we do the same thing in many ways We worship the gifts God gave us, not the God of the gifts. So we see not only that they made an image, but they also imagined that they could get away with it. They imagined God to be kind of winking at it. So in their mind they made a wrong image of God. They diminished Him. But they could do this without getting punished. When Moses came off the mountain, you know, many people died in that day. But see, that's our problem. To serve the God of our imagination. Many people do that. If they do not search the Scriptures, before long, they're going to serve the God of their own imagination. The less familiar you are with the Word of God, the more you're going to serve God in your own ways. There's nothing more offensive to God than that. then it would be better that you were never born and never heard the word of God and never knew the name of God and never were part of the people of God. Then God is more merciful to the heathen in Central Africa that never heard the name Jesus than to you. Now some people say, well, you know, they reason, right? They go by their own opinions and reason. They say, well, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. That's true. A lot can be told through a picture, but don't forget that the picture is also open to a thousand interpretations. Words are very clear. Pictures, you ask people to look at the picture and put it away and let them write down what they saw. Or an event, an accident, that people ask for witnesses and try to get the stories lined up. So a picture, yes, and a picture is worth more than a thousand words, that's how the Roman Catholic Church reasoned when they put all these images around, with all scenes from the scripture, painted or carved, because it's the whole Bible told in picture form. But it's also open to a thousand interpretations, how can you really describe what happened? And what the message is of that, if it's not clearly, well defined, explained in words. So we make a mental image of God, or a real image of God, both cases. God is offended by it. We're not serving the God of the Bible, but the God of our own imagination. God says four or five times, no similitude. Verse 12, verse 15, verse 16, and verse 18, and then our text again. Emphatically. So pictures, instead of helping us to worship God, their hindrance, their obstacle. Because their focus is away to what we see, from what we have to hear and believe about Him. Even pictures of Jesus. For a long time I didn't think too much about it, because I thought, He's a man, so why not have a picture of Jesus? And that's right, that's good. The problem of course is the fact that she is also God. And God says no pictures of me. So to me it became a very simple matter. He is God. So when we picture him as a man, then we lower him. Even though the people back then saw him, we'll get back to that in the third point. They saw a man because he veiled his glory at that time. So he is a man, but he is God. God says no image, no likeness of anything or anyone. God is a jealous God. The word zealous and jealous often are interchangeable. He is jealous, it means he is zealous for his honor, zealous for his glory. And I find it very striking how God with this commandment puts such a strong threat. Not with the other commandments, just this one. He says, if you do this, then I will punish you to your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. They'll suffer. If you do that, he says, I'm a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And maybe you say, oh, I don't hate God when I do this. I don't feel that I'm hating God. God says, it doesn't matter what you feel. It matters what I say. And I equate that. If you serve God in your own way, in your own opinions, in your own view, I will consider that and treat it as if you're hating me in the midst of your worship. four generations but now look how generous God is and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments thousands of them that keep my commandments and the word them is generations thousands of generations and that's what God promises in psalm 105 to a thousand generations And I find that striking because that is internal. Any idea how long thousand generations would be? Any idea how long the earth existed? Say from Adam till today, how many generations do you think? 6,000 years? Let's say that that's about it. Well, let's have a generation to be 30 years. 200 generations. There are only 200 generations about since Adam. That's not that many. That's far less than I thought before I started to think about that. And even if the generation is at a different age, you can calculate, even if it's 20 years per generation, there's still only 300. When God says to a thousand generations, it's evident what He means. Forever. You're either going to be punished to four generations, or blessed to a thousand so now talking about who's generous here so the focus should not be on the negative but on the positive but it does show how important it is how we serve God in a way that's acceptable that he says not only no other gods but you only serve me this way and no other way no images whatsoever So, no images of God Himself, no images in God's service, and then thirdly, no images but are the true children of Abraham. So, we have seen now how to worship the Lord acceptably, and the only point we have to yet look at, and that's amazing and a beautiful point, no images but God's image. You see, God's promise and His provision precedes His command. That's very important. It's not do this and you shall live. I repeat it again. Try to do the best you can and somehow please me by your obedience. God says that's a dead-end road literally. First repent and believe, then you will be able to obey. Because it's in the covenant of grace. That's why the sacrifices were always so important. That's why the sacrifices have now stopped. Because Jesus is the sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. God forbids us to make images of Him. We may not, we cannot, but the point is, He can, and He may, and He did, make an image of Himself. And who are these images? You and I. We are the images of God, the image bearer. God says in Genesis 21, 26, let us make man, what? In our image. and after our likeness. So God made Adam in his image. Not in the way he appeared necessarily, because God doesn't have an appearance like we do. But in the way he acted, the way he thought, the way he talked. He was reflecting God's character. That's really what the word image is about the character of God. That's why He doesn't want us to make an image of an animal, or a bird, or a planet, or the sun, because it's not reflecting the character of God. Nothing has that joy, and that holiness, and the majesty, and the power, but God Himself. God made us to be His image bearers, or His images. Knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. But Adam and we in him, we sinned. We defaced the image of God. We destroyed it to a measure, but not all together. We are still called image bearers. Though it's like a mirror that is now broken and it's fogged up. It doesn't reflect anymore when you look into it. That's how God looks at us. He doesn't see his own reflection in us anymore. If you're outside of Christ, you see. So that's what God did. When the first image-bearer died or sinned, He gave us His second image-bearer, Jesus the Christ. Called in Hebrews 1, verse 3, these words. He's called in Hebrews 1, verse 3, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. God created a new image-bearer to reflect His glory. As we lost our image in Adam, we may have regained in Christ. As we lost an image that was beautiful, that was perfect in its own right, but it was only a human being. Now the second image-bearer is also God. We read, I just read Hebrews 1 verse 3, the brightness of His glory. and the express image of his person. Colossians 1.15 has called there the image of the invisible God. Now how can that be? How can somebody be invisibly reflecting back as visible? How can the invisible God see himself in a mirror? If it wouldn't be for Christ, Because in Christ the fullness of the Godhead is revealed bodily. That's Colossians 2 verse 9. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Do you see the two mysterious things united? God and man. And when God looks on Christ, He says, Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. But actually He is seeing there His people. And when He sees His people, He sees Christ. So no image. We don't need an image to make one. God made one. God made one for us and it's His Son. And then He made us to be His images. Why would we make images where we are the images restored if we are a believer? Imperfection. As Adam failed and we in him, Christ succeeded. and we again in Him. You see? So, Christ fulfilled all the commandments but also the second commandment. He didn't have to make an image. He was the image of God. He never served His Father in any other way than through His Word. Perfect loving obedience in His life and death He was obedient even to the death on the cross 1 Timothy 3.16, a beautiful verse, says the same thing. 1 Timothy 3.16, without controversy, that means without dispute. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. You want a picture of godliness? You want a picture of god-likeness? Look at Christ. He is God made visible in the flesh. That's why God says, hold on, other images. I made the perfect image. I made perfect image bearers. Look to Christ. So if you want to see a picture of Christ, image of God, worship Him. Look for Him throughout the Scriptures. Don't look at a picture of a handsome young man with long black hair. He may not have looked like that at all. And you're distracted. You're distracted from what He really is as image bearer. He is namely His knowledge, His righteousness and His holiness. You want people to have a good picture of Jesus? Live like Him. Talk like Him. Treat people like Him. Then you will reflect something of Christ. You see? Question 98, but may not images be tolerated in the church as books to the laity? No, we must not pretend to be wiser than God. Who will have His people taught not by dumb images, but by speaking images. By acting images. The lively preaching of His word. That's how Jesus is made visible. In the preaching. And people then repent of their sins, believe in Him and begin to act like Him. Of course, all this was written long before movies and films and videos. We can say today people are not image worshippers. Like we think about image worshippers, you see people fall in front of a kind of a statue and things like that, and we kind of think, how can it be so stupid? People are image worshippers today more than ever. Every time you watch a movie, every time you watch a video, you see images moving around. People are image worshippers much more than they were in the past. Now of course I'm not talking about There are good movies, plenty, although plenty, there are some. But most of the movies are not good and so people are worshipping what? They are worshipping sin. It's being pictured before them, they enter into an experience, it's very powerful. Moving images, they have a great impact on people. People I think are more and more drawn away from the word to image worship. People hardly read nowadays. People watch. They watch movies. There's a lot of books that have been put into movies and if people ask, did you read a book? No, I didn't read a book, but I saw the movie. As if that's the same. And so people, Christian churches have even thought, well, let's film the life of Jesus and the life of all the people. It's not the same. God says, not by images, not by dumb images, of course that was written in a couple hundred years ago. Today they would have added, not by speaking images either. The only way is that it's truly a reflection of Christ through us. Because we don't need to make any other images than that which God made Himself. He made us to be His images. And it may well be that you and I, in many cases, are the only Bible that people see. The only word become flesh. By your actions, but also by your words. To show something of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The people, the disciples said, we saw Him. But they said that later when they're looking back, they think, man, that's what we saw. We didn't even realize what we saw. We saw God in the flesh. If you're a believer, one day, We shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him. Not God, but Godly. God-like. In certain aspects. Knowledge, righteousness, holiness, love, etc. But it's all in limited form. And always through Christ. No images, but God's image. Jesus Christ par excellence. And all those who look to Christ will reflect something of Him in their lives. God says, Behold My beloved Son. You want to see something of Me? Look at My Son. And the more you look at My Son, the more you will look like Me. The more you look in that mirror of the Son of God, the more you become like Him. The more you search the Scriptures, the more you meditate, reflect and pray on that, the more you become like Me. That's what God wants. He wants us to be witnesses of Him. So we can see God and live. God said to Moses, no man can see me and live. But I said, apart from the mediator, the shield in between, that is Jesus. No mere man can see me. But the regenerated man can. Although I must make sure, if you look at 1 Corinthians 15, you realize that In the body we are in right now, we would be consumed if we would come in the presence of God. That's why this corruptible must put on incorruptible first. And this mortal must put on immortality. We must be changed that we shall be able to bear the presence of God. And if we are not in Christ, then that change will come, but then we will bear the brunt of His wrath. And there will be an eternal consumed. Like that burning bush that never was consumed. It's either that or the other. There's no way in between. So we may see God and live. 2 Corinthians 4.6 is also a beautiful text. That we may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.6, the glory of God. We can see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jacob saw a little bit of that. Genesis 32 verse 30 he says, and he called the place Peniel. He says, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. But do you remember when he saw the ladder? And angels coming up and down on that ladder, and the ladder was a picture of Christ, the connection between earth and heaven. Otherwise Jacob would have been consumed there. So, it's not just about doing the right thing or not doing the right thing, it's about being the right person. The second commandment is about being an image. Restored image. Image bearer. Not only do the right thing, but be the right person. And that can only be through Christ, who fulfilled the second commandment. Acceptable worship. Acceptable in the Beloved, Paul writes in Ephesians 1. Acceptable as a person first, then our works are acceptable also. God is a spirit. Jesus said to the woman at the well, John 4, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that simply means by the Holy Spirit and in Christ. In truth means in the spirit, Jesus, I am the truth. Looking to Jesus, believing in Jesus, following Jesus, imitating Jesus, searching to know him better. If you really care for a person, you want to be in the presence of that person. If you really admire someone, you want to be like that person. If you stand in awe before one, because of his goodness, his grace, his mercy, his kindness, his love, his patience, you want to emulate that. That's what the second commandment is about. The first is no other gods serve the Lord, your God, exclusively. The second commandment is how you serve Him. Acceptably. No man-made images. God's image is far better than any other. It's the exclusive image. That's the only image whereby God wants us to come to Him.