Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 96. How to worship God, and there's the warning, don't be innovative. Well, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, looking at this law, it appears it only addresses the issue of not using images to worship God. But that is just the letter of the law. The scope or the spirit of the law is much bigger. Let me illustrate this. For every parent here, you would tell your child, go get dressed. And if you hear dress, you think, OK, put on clothes. But you mean much more than that, don't you? You mean that they need to maybe shower, maybe comb their hair, maybe brush their teeth. You want them to be properly dressed. You say get dressed, but you mean more. And such is God's law, all of God's law. In the second command, God forbids all corrupt worship. And at the same time, commands by implication that you should worship Him properly, even though He only states, you shall not make any graven image. And this is what you will hear about today. There are two sermons on this. We'll talk next time, Lord willing, about the images specifically. But today, our headings are the Prescriptions of Law 2 and then Prohibitions of Law 2. Our goals are that you will worship God better and that you will work until the whole world worships God better. Question 96. What is God's will for us in the second commandment together? that we in no way make any, sorry, made a mistake there, make any image of God, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word. Prescriptions then of law two, prescriptions of law two. Let's read the law itself, Exodus chapter 20, verse four through six together. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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 on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments." God requires that you worship Him in the way He commanded in His word. You're not to worship Him in any other way. I make some particular notes about this. First of all, none of the elements of worship is left to your imagination. Not ever. You have to be able to prove from the scriptures everything we do in a worship service. If you can't prove it, you don't do it. You do what God has commanded. There is the tendency of some to say, well, if God didn't explicitly forbid it, then we should be able to do it. Not true. Worship is done as God has commanded. We say He regulates worship. Even the day of worship is not left to your imagination. Of course, you can worship God any day you want. Next week, Thursday, it'll be what we call the Ascension Day service, and you're invited to join at Covenant Church for that day. But that's, you may not say we'll worship on Thursday and avoid the day in which God has called us to worship, which is on Sunday. You must gather for worship, and it's a contempt of God if you don't. Even how the worship service is led and supervised is not left to your imagination. Male leadership is required according to God's law. Elders oversee the worship. We had a discussion yesterday in Arkansas history meeting, and we talked about what I will be preaching about in the next little while, because elders guide and guard the church. There's never one man in control. I don't decide what we do here. The elders do. And also note that God placed the severest judgment in the Bible, not on murderers, or rapists, or kidnappers, or warmongers, but upon those who corrupt this, what we do in worship. The worst punishment is reserved for those who pollute the worship of God. So, how does God want to be worshipped then? We worship God in prayer, in singing, in reading and preaching of the word, and then we have the sacraments. Prayer, singing, preaching, along with the reading of the word, and then the sacraments. There's no puppet shows, no reports of financial statements, and how much money we have in the building fund. Those are not parts of the worship services. Those are important things, but that's not the worship service. So don't look to strange things or they will pollute your mind. Just like looking to a prostitute will pollute the heart. And God is not pleased when man introduces anything to his worship. Don't look and say, look at how wonderful their service is. Look at the music they have. Look at their worship teams. Isn't that something? I understand talking to someone in my home country, now they're inviting dance teams to perform on Sunday in their Pentecostal worship services. That's not worship. That's not worship. That's like looking how the world does it and then say, hey, we should get some of that. That looks interesting. Next, proper worship must be done with preparation and with a pure heart. I mean, if you're looking for a job and you have to have a job interview, what do you do? Say, well, just make it up as I go along. No, you brush up on all the things you have to say, all the good points to show your abilities. You prepare for a job interview. How would you dare to approach heaven without being prepared? No, you have to be prepared. So if you come to worship tired and exhausted because you stayed up late watching the Leafs lose, and I wrote this before they lost last night, so I'm not going to take any credit for that. or any blame for it either. Or you're playing computer games too late, or you're watching your favorite YouTube videos, or that Netflix thing that people are always talking about. Is that pleasing to the Lord? No, there's nothing wrong in watching the Lee's Loose, or watching Netflix, or as long as you're watching that, which is good. But those things, if they take away from your worship, your worship is no good. And God's not going to be pleased. It's like a boss listening to somebody who comes unprepared. As soon as they enter an interview room, they're tired. They're yawning. It's like, you're not really serious about this. Don't call us. We'll call you. That's how God is upset when people come not prepared for worship. Or if you come to worship with grudge against your neighbor, or maybe your husband, or maybe your wife, will God hear your worship? Look at your notes if you have it, or let me read this, you follow along. Matthew 5, 23. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way first. Be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. So don't come with, hatred or anger in your heart. And don't come with your mind busy with your work. Learn to set that aside. I know sometimes that's not easy. But if your mind is overrun by work, can you worship God properly? Fix everything that hinders your worship, settle the arguments, and then come with your mind free from clutter. That's when your worship will be good. That's when you will receive the best things from worship. That's when God is pleased with your worship. And when you come to worship, this command requires that you have a proper picture of God in your mind to worship Him. Not outside. That's why we don't have any pictures here and say, look at Jesus and pray to Him. No, in your mind you must have that view of the majesty of God and the glory of God and the holiness of God, not this handsome looking white guy that is pictured as Jesus everywhere. That is a sinful image that pollutes your homes and your hearts. You need to take them off your walls. if you have them there. John 4, 23 and 24, Jesus speaking to the woman at the well. He says to her, together, but the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, or according to His truth. So search out your lives, brothers and sisters, and see if there are images, whether they're literal or figurative images, and destroy them both. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 5 says this, but thus shall you deal with them. You shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. You notice the language? Break down, dash in pieces, hew down, burn. Those are not very positive words, are they? And those are words that must be applied to images. whether they're literal or figurative. Remember, God can remove, as he says in his word, he's a very jealous God, he can remove any gods you lift up before his face. And before we move to the second point, think of what that would mean to you. What would you lose? What is before the face of God? What controls your actions? What governs your life? What would you lose? Those are the prescriptions. We worship God and wait at He commands. have a proper view of Him in your mind and you focus on worship and the things that He's commanded specifically, not adding anything, what does God forbid then in this second law? First of all, do not bring inappropriate worship before God, for they're displeasing and unacceptable. I'm going to read some passages, and we're going to read some together as well. But I want you to see from the beginning of the Bible, as it flows, how men have constantly corrupted the worship of God and made Him extremely angry. And you will see the different ways in which man can do that. Look how God rejected Cain's worship. Remember his punishment. Let me read this passage, Genesis 4, 3 through 5. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. God rejected it because it was wrong. God wanted an offering of blood. And that's what we still do today. We come through the blood of Jesus Christ when we worship. And he's saying, Lord, I'm going to bring you some fruits because I think that's what you want. And God saying, no, I don't want fruits and vegetables, I want blood, because the blood was the picture of the blood of Jesus Christ. Look how God rejected the sons of the high priest offering. And let's read together Leviticus 10, 1 and 2 together. Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." They had no right to do so. And God devoured. Literally, he made the fire eat them up. Look how God rejected Korah's offerings and what God did to the rebels in Numbers 16, 3 and then 35, just follow along. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, you take too much upon yourselves for all the congregation is holy. In other words, we're really special too. Every one of them and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? And look at what happened. And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. They were consumed, eaten up, same idea, devoured by fire, trying to take the authority and worship that God did not give them. Then Eli, More famous case, Eli and his sons treated God's worship with contempt. What did God do to Eli's family as a result of them polluting worship? 1 Samuel chapter 2, 29 and 31. Let's read together. Why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling place, and honor your sons more than me, to make yourselves fat with the best of the offerings of Israel, my people? Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. They would steal the best parts of the offering, Eli's sons, what should have been given to God, and all their conniving ways. And God said, since you have done so, and you didn't stop your sons as the priests for what they were doing, there will not be an old man in your house. What a tragedy when people die young. But that's what God did to them because they polluted his worship. Look at what King Saul did. He made himself an idol, and as a consequence, he lost the kingdom. 1 Samuel 15, 22, and 23. Please follow along. Then Samuel said, "'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. See the trouble? He decided he can make sacrifices too. And God said, you have polluted my worship. Should have waited for Samuel. Let him make the sacrifice. And then look what God did to Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts. They corrupted worship. offering polluted money to God, and God killed them both. Or even in 1 Corinthians 11, you read about those who were not taking the Lord's Supper in a proper way, polluting the worship of God. God killed them. You see the examples? Where do we start? Genesis. And you go all the way through. That's what makes God, made God the angriest. Now, let's see the worst way you can corrupt God's worship. And that's what you have in the command. Remember, the letter is narrow, but the intention very broad. But let's talk about the letter for a minute. We will get into more details about this, Lord willing, next week, next time. The worst way you can corrupt worship is to make images of God. The Christian may say, oh, what does make mean? Doesn't this command only forbid things that are put together like you get some clay and you form them into a God? Something formed with the hand. Well, the word make here means much more. It means to carve or to chisel or to mold or to shape in any form. So drawings and graven images are shaped forms. They are two-dimensional images of God. So you're not to make any of those. Second, There's another part of this command that many miss, and it's this, you shall not make any likeness of God. Not only you're not to make images to worship them, you're not to make any likeness of God. This includes anyone pretending to be Christ as in movies. The gospel is not to be spread with movies. You will see this develop next time, but with the lively preaching of the word of God and why that is crucial for the spread of the kingdom. You see, God not only designates the goals, but he also prescribes the means to those goals. And why are these images so bad that God would say, don't use them, don't make any likeness of me, don't make any images to worship. Well, because you're debasing God to created materials. God must not be limited to his created materials. And this is why you must avoid those idolatrous paintings in your homes and in your churches. Look at what God says in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 15 and 16 together. "'Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourself a carved image in the form of any creature the likeness of male or female.'" So God was saying, look, specifically, I never showed you who I am, what I look like. Don't go about trying to make something and say that's what I look like, because I didn't show you any form. And it's contempt. It's contempt of it. You know, it is possible that people can make drawings of you. I remember when Victor and I went to some church some years ago, somebody sketched the two of us, and they made us both look better looking than we were. That's OK. But if you don't know what the person looked like, how can you? And specifically, when the person says, don't do it. And specifically, when that person is God and says, it's wrong to do it. But this was a challenge for Israel throughout Israel's history. And so God had to warn them. Look again at Isaiah 40, verse 18 and 19 together. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. But the question is, to whom would you liken Him? What would you describe Him as? How would you make Him? He was showing the impossibility of doing that. Now we get into a couple of technical things. Do not worship any images of the true God or of the false gods. Most people recognize this, so I won't talk too much about that. But you should avoid joining in any ceremonies with those who are worshiping idols. That's where we have some of the Roman Catholic who have that, Hindus, Buddhists, who are told they shouldn't have any idols, but they do anyway. You should not join in any of that because you are joining them in acknowledging the existence of other gods before God's face. You could incur his anger. Now, don't hate those who do. Don't hate the Hindu. Don't hate the Buddhist or the Roman Catholic. Never do. They don't know any better. Be patient with them. Just don't join them in what they do. Be kind. Be patient. Pastors tell us you can't teach a cat to bark. Don't expect them to be different than what's in their heart, what they've been trained to do. Share the gospel first. Next, don't make any images to help you worship the true God. Not only don't worship the images, don't join with those and don't use images to help you worship the true God. This is what the Israelites did when they had the golden serpent, that golden serpent which represented Christ. Look at 2 Kings chapter 18, verse 3 and 4 together. and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image, and broke it in pieces, the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For until those days, the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan. Now, God had used this when they were in the desert, when they were being bitten by snakes, to picture the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And instead, they started treating the snake as if the snake were God. And that's why when the king came, he said, let's grind this thing to powder. Let's destroy this. Don't argue that you are using an idol to help you worship God. The Jews never believed that Nehushtan was God. They just wanted to use it to help them worship the true God. Now, there are two quick things to mention about our Roman Catholic friends. One is they claim, some of them claim that they worship God with their heart, but the images they only worship with their bodies. That is senseless. God has ordained the goals and the means to those goals. He tells us we must worship him. He tells us how we are to worship him. He doesn't say, well, keep one with your heart, and it's OK to worship with your body. More Roman Catholics believe another false thing, which is this. They argue that they only use the image as a medium. In other words, we just use the image to help us worship. And it sounds reasonable, doesn't it? except that God didn't tell you to do so. Worship must be done the way God says. Now, in order to justify their idolatry, Roman Catholics, if you check what they do when they teach the Bible, they changed the Ten Commandments. You know that? They take law one and two, put them together so the idolatry, the worshiping of image is not focused on, and then they divide law 10. You should not commit to covet your neighbor's wife and then covet your neighbor's house, all the other things that belong to your neighbor. That's their sneaky way of minimizing their idolatry. But that is contrary to God's law. And then next, do not make or worship any image of any other gods. Not only don't make images of Jehovah God, but don't make images of any other god. And this was a challenge that the Apostle Paul had to the people in the Oropagus in Athens when he stood there. He challenged them about the corruption of their idols and how hopeless they were. Acts chapter 17, verse 29 says, together, Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think of the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. So all these gods that you have here, and remember in Athens, they had more gods than people. Every home had multiple gods, more than the people who lived in the homes. And he said, no. You need to find out about the one true God and worship Him in the way that He says. Follow along, Romans 1.22 says, professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. And if you look at Mayan history or many of the native Indians, Aztecs, Incas, you will find so many of these where they have an eagle or some other animal that they describe that is maybe a prolific animal. And they would say, that's our God. That's what we will make into our God. Whereas they're just animals. And maybe we should think about that. I know in the United States, if you destroy a bald eagle's egg, you can get two years in prison and I think $10,000 fine. And we can kill a baby, that's okay. Perfectly legal. Maybe we've made something else into a God. Whereas an animal is an animal, you use animals for what God intended. If you're hungry and you want a bald eagle, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from enjoying a bald eagle stew if that's your thing. And yet, we have made that into the idol. And we've ignored the ones with the image of God in them. One last warning. Are things prohibited in this second command? Do not worship the true God, even if it's a true God, in strange ways. Don't use strange tongues and divination. Don't pray to Mary. You don't have to use candles to worship God. Don't use candles to worship God. Candles are fine if you like them. There's nothing wrong. Drama is not worship. Flags are not worship. And yet, these things are common in churches today. Because we want to look like the world. We want to be more appealing. We think this will identify us as a cool church, as a woke church. You're not to worship God in any corrupted way. Remember, the law is broader than not worshiping idols. The law is worship God in the way that he commands and stop worshiping him any way that he forbids. Let's conclude. God is your creator. You should worship him for that. But God is also your recreator. After you fell into sin, He restored you in Jesus Christ. Only those who are recreated in Jesus Christ are able to worship Him, because man lost that ability. Because God wants you to worship Him properly, He tells you how you are to worship Him. And in fact, God will violently destroy, as you've seen in history, those who don't worship Him at all, or those who pollute His worship, or those who worship Him alongside other gods. Remember, He's a jealous God, and that word jealous implies some degree of force. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, haven't been warned, this is how you should do it, this is how you should not do it. What can we leave here today with? Well, one man wrote this. He says, Christians are prone to idol worship as dry wood is to fire. And he was right. Man likes the easy way. And it's easy to worship idols. You know, in India, there are classes on how to make your own god. Imagine that. You can make your god. Why do people do join these classes? Because it's easy. These gods cost little, and they're easy to control. So watch out for the lure of easy worship. Now, I know you're probably not going to be bowing down to an idol tomorrow, but look for things that corrupt worship and avoid them. Be on guard against the lure to easy worship. Isn't it more exciting that everybody gets to come up on stage and you're singing and you're dancing and you get lost in emotions and the preaching of the word goes in the background? Love the Lord and worship Him in the way that He says. Now, in order to worship the Lord in the way that He requires, you must stay close to Him. And this is where doctrines have more implications. If you are not close to the Lord, you're never going to worship him like you should. You know, the man who is close to his wife is less likely to commit adultery. And so is the one who's close to his Lord. It's less likely to stray from worshiping him. You will constantly be reminded how much your God loves you and cares for you. So, you need to feed on His love letter. You need to remind yourself of the pictures of love of the Lord Jesus being beaten and spat upon and crucified and mocked and then even dying for you. That's the epitome of love. There's no cross. There's no worship. And then talk to Him. Talk to Him regularly. And let Him talk to you through His word. and stay close to him, praise him for his provisions, and then make petitions for more. He delights for you to ask for things. Worship the Lord the way he says, not how you want, even if what you want might seem better. And know this, as much as it's just natural and you're responding because of all the grace you've been given, God will bless you if you worship Him the way He says. There might not be a thousand people here, but God will love your worship when you worship Him the way He says. And if you're not a Christian, know you must come to the knowledge of the only true God first before you can worship Him properly. It's something you are really required to do. The nice thing is God is willing. He's willing to be your God if you call upon him in sincerity and plead Christ's death as your death, and he will incorporate you into his family. But if you reject this offer, you will die and go to hell, and you will not be worshiping the devil there. The Christ would be different. Let us pray. Thank you, Father, for your words. Thank you for the reminder of how we ought to stay close to you and then worship you the way you say. And be warned against falling away and adapting our worship to please the people who are around us. We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would help us to take our eyes off of the world and look to the one who is our help and comfort, who is always beside us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.