Friends, I know attention spans are short, so I'll try to make this as quick as I can. It's going to be a little bit lengthy, so hopefully you'll watch it. I want to talk about the little Jesus images. First of all, like I said in the post, I understand that they're very well-intentioned. Some, anyway, who pass these out, they're very well-intentioned. They want people to know Christ, and they They don't really haven't really thought through the best way how to do it So I get that and and praise God for the motivation to share Christ nevertheless It's still wrong Just because you have a motivation to pass these out doesn't mean a good motivation doesn't mean the act itself is is right That's just that's not how things work When I posted the post, it went viral unexpectedly, but when I posted it, because of my preaching, I had Psalm 2 on my mind, and so let me just read to you a little bit from Psalm 2. This is verse 12. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. So the Bible points this magnificent picture of the resurrected and reigning King Jesus. He is King of Kings and he is Lord of Lords. He is full of mercy and he is glorious beyond compare. He is the fairest of 10,000. We have that from Song of Solomon, the bride speaking of her husband, but he's the fairest of 10 billion. He is one in infinity, if you will. He is our all. And here's an analogy. So first of all, let me say this. There is a second commandment violation in doing this, but I'm a Reformed Baptist, so I get it that not everybody has had time to process, to work through, to actually understand the implications for the Ten Commandments today, including not making images. So let me just give it another argument. So, well, back up for a second. If we had a little image of Jesus that was perfectly accurate, which it can't be, but just for analogy, Then we could have be having the argument of the second commandment. It would still be in play But there's an added issue here. And so let me just go that route for a minute The second commandment is in play. I think it's important But let's set that aside for a minute because we could just argue all day back and forth Let me let me put to you this way. Here's an analogy I think that AI is helpful today to bring this analogy, because AI can be used for very nefarious things. They can take our faces and put them on other people. They can take the faces of our children, put them on other people. So if I were around town and I saw someone passing out a little doll with your face on it, and it was on this little fat, chubby, stupid doll, and it was mocking you, I would be upset about that, right? And you would too. Let's say you saw your face on a prostitute or you saw your children's face on some fat 40-year-old, ridiculously overweight, gross person. That would not be okay to you because it's a misrepresentation of who you are. It's a misrepresentation of your children. You wouldn't be okay. And so these fat little chubby trinkets, they are not an accurate depiction of what you just read. Let me read it again, Psalm 212. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. The Bible paints an exalted picture of King Jesus. In fact, here, I can pull this up quick. Let me read from Revelation 19. So, Revelation 19, 11, hopefully, yep. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in his righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, on his head are many diadems. He has a name written, that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That little chubby trinket toy plastic image conveys none of that. And so what's the problem? It makes people think about Jesus. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. It makes people think about a false idea of Jesus, which is crept in to evangelicalism, which is crept in, it's kind of communicated in the songs that we listen to on K-Love. It's a false idea of Jesus. And so if you're arguing, well, it makes people think of Jesus, you're actually doubling down on the error. They're not thinking of the biblical Jesus. This is not the image of Christ that comes into the hearts and minds of people who see the fat little, any more than a real image of you comes in the mind of people who see your face on the 40 year old fat overweight man that lives in his parents' basement. It's not the same. So it's offensive. It is so these things were were passed out at a parade and my children and some of our church members are seeing that that's offensive That's wrong. Yes. Well, that's why so because this is a reproach upon christ. I understand the motivation Now i'm not coming down on people for the motivation But if you have if you truly have that motivation Well, then let's think through it Biblically now, I know Some people are like, well, you're mean, you start up conflict, whatever. Oof. Look, I got my faults. And my wife can tell you that I am able to say things sometimes that really stick. And I'm not saying that as a positive. I'm saying that I get it. Yeah, that's a fault of mine. And I need to work on it. And I need to be careful in the way I communicate. I get that. But this is not an issue that I would be backing off of, right? The glory and majesty and exaltation of the risen and ascended Christ, like that's my life. That's all I care about. I'm willing to stand upon the truth. And if necessary, I'm willing to die for that truth. because of the one who died for me. You need to understand in this age of squishiness and the term is, I didn't come up with the term, but even jellyfish, you know, just no spine, it's okay to have conviction. And it's okay to stand on your conviction. And it's okay to say, hey look, to other people, you're wrong. Now we need to do that in charity, like I did in my post. We need to do it in love, like I did in my post. But it's okay to stand somewhere and say, this is the truth. Because what we're trying to do is, and look, I'm just gonna tell you, we're gonna win. Right? The true church is gonna win. And so you may not like the feminization of our society has come into this, right? We don't like strong language. We don't like someone to stand up and say, hey, look, I'm right and you're wrong. And here's why. It's the scriptures. We don't like that. It bugs people. I get it. It's because our society has downgraded so much over the last couple hundred years. But I'm telling you that the church must rise up and be able to stand on these truths and say, hey, look, this is right. This is wrong. This is error. This is truth. You've got to pick a side. There's no neutrality. We can do this caring. We can do this lovingly. But we can't back down, right? So maybe I'm just kind of rambling on here. Maybe this kind of helps you think through. I know when you read something, it's hard to hear tone and all those things, but I take very seriously my responsibility to shepherd the flock of God that is among me. I take very seriously to shepherd my own family. And if you're just offended, I mean, you can unfriend me, right? I don't want to lose anyone as a friend. That's not what I'm trying to do. That's not my effort. But hear me very clearly, I'm willing to. My loyalty to Christ is more important to me than anything else in the world. And so I'll stand there. There is no biblical argument. You will not find it one place in the scripture. Show me in the scriptures where any evangelistic method in the Scriptures is sanctioned that says Jesus loves you, right? Now, we can get into a debate about the depths of the love of Christ. You do not know love apart from God, who is love, and the unfathomable oceans of the depths of the love of Jesus Christ. Does Jesus Christ love? Absolutely. Does he love? his church in a different way than he loves others? Of course, just like I love my wife in a different way than I love others. So it's not a debate about the love of Jesus. The debate is no one ever in the scriptures ever use this as an evangelistic tactic. Hey, Jesus loves you. Never. So why would we want to do that? And on top of that, why would we want to use the fat chubby trinket to communicate that to people? That does not, it does not accomplish the things that you think that it does. And so the whole thing should just be, it shouldn't even be a debate, right? It should be very, very easy. I understand like the motivation at first, you're like, oh yeah, well, but then you just think about it. And in fact, the first time that I learned about these little trinkets, It was almost two years ago, a person handed it to me and said, everyone needs a little Jesus in their life. And that's what we've boiled down the sovereign king of heaven to, a little Jesus. It is a superstitious little trinket that people, well, it just reminds me, well, it's not an idol. It just reminds me of, what? That's the definition of idolatry. right this definition that you carry this stupid little thing around in your pocket and it reminds you of the it reminds you of the psalm that i read reminds you of revelation 19 no no it doesn't it reminds you of the jesus that you want him to be so let's get rid of that And let's surrender to the biblical Jesus, the one who has come from heaven to seek his bride, the bride who had gone astray, who is like the harlot in Hosea, and given herself over to worldliness and sin. And Jesus came for her anyway. He lived perfectly, procuring a righteousness for her, obeying the law, truly God, truly man, the true and better Adam, the greater David, the greater Moses. Then he goes to the cross. He pays for her sins, bearing the wrath of God, do her. And then he dies. And he rises again on the third day. And whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Better not be calling upon the Jesus imitated by that little fat trinket. You better look to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is the whole argument. This is the gospel's at stake. This is where I'm at. I wanna be your friend, but if we have to separate over it, well then so be it because I'm gonna stand on the side of truth. I'm gonna go around to people and I'm not gonna tell them Jesus loves you because that's not the gospel. The gospel is what I just said. that you are condemned under the wrath of God, even though you're trading his image, you've turned from him, you've gone your own way, and he's going to break the teeth of the wicked. He's going to squash the wicked like grapes in a wine press. You will face his fury and his wrath for all eternity. Put in his sovereign mercy and kindness and love. Jesus Christ has paid the debt and risen again from the grave for all those who will trust him, who will repent of their sins and believe the gospel. This video is too long. Hope you'll watch it. God bless. Merry Christmas. Soli Deo Gloria.