idolatry versus living by faith. We come to this, the first of the Ten Commandments, Sunday 34. If you want to turn there in the Heidelberg Catechism, have that ready. We'll turn to it in a moment. So we begin to study the Ten Commandments, but it's important first of all to note that the Heidelberg Catechism doesn't put the law of God at the very front. Here we are 34 Sundays into the year and we're just now starting to deal one by one with the Ten Commandments. Now the reason is that the catechism is for believers and for the believer who has been released from the curse of the law by the shed blood of Christ, the law is no longer a fearsome thing. It doesn't stand there like the curtain that separated the people from the Holy of Holies. It doesn't stand there like the cherubim with the sword keeping people out of the Garden of Eden. But the law is a revelation of the righteousness and the holiness of God. It shows us how we ought to live as thankful and redeemed sinners. Very important to understand the place of the law in the life of the believer. See, the preamble to the law in Exodus 20 says, And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. While we see that God has emblazoned his law in the hearts of every person, this preamble makes clear that God is speaking here, first of all, to his people, the people whom he saved, brought out of Egypt, out of spiritual and physical bondage. That's who he's talking to when the law is given at Sinai. And in the first commandment he tells the people, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Question ninety-four puts it this way. It says, I should probably turn to it. I've got it written down here in front of me, but I took it off the church, the RCS website. It's a slightly different translation. Question ninety-four says, what does God require in the first commandment that on peril of my soul's salvation I avoid and flee? all idolatry, sorcery, enchantments, invocation of saints, or of other creatures, and that I rightly acknowledge the only true God, trust in Him alone, with all humility and patience, expect all good from Him only, love, fear, and honor Him with my whole heart. There's a lot of superlatives being used here, aren't there? So I was rather to renounce all creatures than to do the least thing against His will. There's a complete separation in the answer here, even as there is in the scriptures, between living a life of idolatry and living by faith. Unless we have the slightest doubt about what it means, look at question 95. What is idolatry? Idolatry is to conceive or to have something else on which to place our trust instead of or besides the one true God who has revealed Himself in His Word. In other words, God has told us about His perfect law, His perfect righteousness, what He expects of us, where we have failed, And he says, those that are my people that I've brought out of spiritual bondage in Egypt, you're to love me and me alone, to follow me and me alone, and you're not to have anything to do to be enslaved again, to walk back into the bondage and the chains of Egypt, the sin that you've left. You're not to have anything to do with the idols of that land. That you brought along with you as we saw as they went to the promised land. We saw their hearts were full of those idols. And it manifested itself again and again. And even when they entered into the physical promised land, we saw again and again and again. This sinful urge to embrace not just the idols that they brought with them out of Egypt, but the idols of the land. Idols of their heart. The whole history of the human race is the serpent in the garden, and he's asking, hath God said? Really? Did God say that? And just like Eve, just like Adam, our sinful hearts want to believe that. Yeah, God didn't. He said that, but he didn't really mean it. He couldn't mean that. That would require perfect obedience. He can't mean that. Must have meant something else. Now, the whole history of the human race is the history of the serpent. Asking, hath God said, it's a history of golden calves, idols of the heart. Turn with me to Judges chapter six. Just to look at a couple of these examples. And these are people that knew better. It's not about intellectually understanding. Right from wrong, the law's written in your heart, you already know that. What's Gideon say? Look at Gideon, verse 23, And Gideon said, this is after he's defeated the Ishmaelites out of Midian. He says, And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Now, that's what Gideon said. What did Gideon do? And Gideon said to them, I desire a request of you. You would give me every man the earrings of his prey, for they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. And they answered, we will willingly give them. And they spread a garment and cast thereon every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides ornaments and collars, purple raiment that was the king on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about the camel's necks. And Gideon made an ephod, which is sort of a vestment. He made it ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel went there a-whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house." God says, look at the guys who cut their hands. Don't take three thousand, then take three hundred. You know, lapping up the water. Go over here and slay and put the fear in the entire army. Drive them off. An incredible victory God handed to Gideon and everybody knew it. And he said, we're going to serve the Lord. And he collected all the little trinkets, and the next thing you know, he said, well, let's make a little something out of that. We got all these little gold earrings. And so he made the golden ephod. Pretty soon, they started worshiping the ephod, and it says, all Israel went a-whoring after it. Became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Now, Gideon, he's mentioned in Hebrews in the Hall of Faith there. So, even believers, even those we're going to meet in heaven, are subject to this sin of idolatry. So, we know we are. Even though he was ensnared by a thing he made with his own hands, he knew he made this thing. He said, I took it, I melted it down, I made this thing, and next thing you know, I'm sitting here, you know, we're burning incense to it, we're bowing down to it. When God told Moses the fashion of brazen serpent in the wilderness, when the people have been judged with the plague of snakes, what became of that brazen serpent? Do you know what happened to it? Look over at 2 Kings chapter 18. So in 2 Kings chapter 18, It says, Now it came to pass in the third year of Asher, our son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty-five years old was he when he began to reign. He reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. According to all that David his father did, he removed the high places that shouldn't have been there. broke the images that shouldn't have been there. He cut down the groves where they shouldn't have been worshiping. He break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it. They'd taken the thing that had been fashioned by the hands of men and they'd set it up in a holy place and they were burning incense to it. Nehushtan, he called it a thing of grass, contemptuously. He took the idol and cast it down, broke it in pieces. Nehushtan. Now, I could go through most of the books of the Old Testament and give you similar examples. We could be here all day looking at idolatry, the first commandment, and invariably the first one we break. Now when we come to the... I said the fact is every example of idolatry and false worship begins with putting something or someone before God. We fashion a God of our own making and when we come to the New Testament we're going to see that develop more fully. Turn with me to the first chapter of Romans. Paul begins his presentation of the gospel by clearly and unmistakably contrasting living by faith against idolatry. It happens there as some people, you know, it's very easy to look at that verse jump and thinks that there's just changing subjects. He's not. It's a contrast. Living by faith against idolatry, showing that they are polar opposites. Verse 15, so much as is in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first, also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And then the transition. He says, but for the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible thing of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood of the things that are made. Even his eternal power in God had so that they were without excuse. Now, that's the first thing we need to know. If you share the gospel with anybody, you need to know that there is that they know that there is a creator God. All right. It is etched into their very consciousness and their being. They know it. God has showed it, it's manifest unto them. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. Now, there's a fellow named Hiram Dias who wrote a short piece about how even Anne Rand, who took gleeful pride in declaring her atheism, simply created a god of her own liking. In her dreadfully predictable screed entitled Anthem, her hero says this. He said, I look upon the earth and sky. This spread of rock and peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to be born, a world that waits. It seems to ask a sign from us, a spark, first commandment. We look ahead, we beg our heart for guidance, guidance in answering this call, no voice has spoken, yet we have heard. Romans 1. Her conclusion, of course, is not atheism at all, because her conclusion, spoken through the voice of her hero, he says, Now I see the face of God and I raise this God over the earth, this God whom men have sought since men came into being, this God who will grant them joy and peace and pride, this God, this one word, I. So, Anne Rand simply said, we will shove the Lord aside and we shall ascend to the throne ourselves. But it's all based upon this knowledge that answering the call, no voice has spoken, yet we have heard. And she was therefore without excuse. Why? Verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, you could insert Anne Rand's name here several times, they became fools. and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like a corruptible man into birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things, golden ephods, golden calves, brazen serpents, statues of saints, prayers to Mary, seminary degrees, political leaders, rock stars, fame, fortune, stature. It has consequences then, it has consequences now. This is idolatry of the heart. Verse 24, wherefore, God also gave them up. What happens? What happens with this idolatry? Can you just pick up an idol and take it along? And, you know, it's just about me. It just gives me comfort. It's my little crutch. I like to have something I can see and touch and feel, but it doesn't have any consequences. Of course, it has consequences. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 24, through the lust of their own hearts. to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie. And they worshipped and served the Creator, or the creature. They worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. You see, it didn't just happen. It is a direct result of idolatry. You want to look around and you want to see, you know, the sin that bursts every standard of so-called propriety. It seems to always be pushing the envelope, always pushing against the righteousness of God. It begins with idolatry. Verse 26, For this cause gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women had changed their natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was me. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Yeah, it can get worse. The sinful proclivity prone to all sin, as the catechism praises, it can get worse. It said God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. You see, these aren't just sins that violate the commandments, they're also sins against nature. You know, a lot of times Paul will say, even the Greeks, even the pagans understand these things. Natural affection of the Father for the Son, these kind of things that are He said, but they're filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, and minors of evil things, disobedient. He's reading the rest of the commandments here. Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but they have pleasure in them that do them. It's one thing to be convicted to know, because the law is written on your heart, that you're sinning. It's one thing to look at somebody else and see their life and say they're sinning that life. It's another thing to turn right and wrong upside down. Not only committing such things worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Taking sinful conduct and extolling it and raising it up. That's what postmodernism is all about. The only sin in postmodernism is to recognize sin. To discern evil is the only evil in a world of relativism. Now, if you think that creator worship and creature worship can live at peace in this world, then you're wrong. They'll pound on your door, as they did on Lot's door. There's no neutrality. There's no DMZ in this struggle that has been going on since the protovangelum was issued in the garden. They'll force you to not only tolerate, but to accept and embrace their sin and to call it holy. If you don't think so, look at the churches in Canada that are being confronted with the command that not only must they not condemn homosexuality, but they have to recognize homosexual marriage and perform the ceremonies. Look how it played out this last week with a photographer wedding photographer, and she said, I can't go and do wedding photography at a so-called gay marriage. She was sued and she lost. They will pound on your door and force you not only to tolerate, but to accept and embrace sin and to call it holy. And woe be to the people of God if they believe for even one moment That because you wall yourself off into some little spiritual kingdom of your own devising, that the jackboots of the so-called common kingdom won't kick down the door, because Satan goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he will devour. It is the nature of Satan. And you say, well, you know, we can't get involved in this world We just need to be separate from it. We'll tell that to the Christian family in China when they violate the one child policy and the state comes along and commands them to abort their child. You can't wall yourself off. And every time it's happened, even when you saw people who tried to adopt this as their whole rule of life and they moved up into the monasteries, but eventually even the monasteries, the doors were kicked in and they were looted. No escape. The good news is we don't have to escape because it's God's world. Few years ago, Tim Keller, he wrote that in a postmodern world, blinded by relativism, simply defaulting to the Ten Commandments when you talk to an unbeliever makes you sound a lot like a Pharisee. And you know what? It's true. There's a reason why, like I said, we have the Ten Commandments at the end as a rule of life in the catechism, how we ought to live. But you don't want to use the Ten Commandments when you're dealing with an unbeliever as though you're giving them a code of conduct because you want to influence their outward behavior. You don't want to make them little Pharisees. You don't want to say, well, you know, I'm a Christian and you're not. Let me tell you. Let me tell you how you ought to be living your life. Because simply trying to reform the outward conduct of the unbeliever doesn't deal with the issue of the heart. And so Tim Keller was right when he said, we sound a lot like a Pharisee. But he said, but if you start with the first commandment, because that's what the postmodern person thinks when he thinks of somebody who's a Christian believer, you're going to come over, you're going to have a lot of do's and don'ts, a lot of rules, you know, just like the Pharisees. He's going to automatically dismiss, you know, whatever you say, or at the very least, you're going to have a very high wall to climb over. But he says, if you'll, if you'll talk about how, start with the first commandment, you talk about how people have broken lives and broken relationships because they make idols out of money or success or fame. He said they get that. And then you can talk about how we as sinners do the same thing in our own lives. Yep, rightly understood. The fact that we are sinners makes us the most credible of all witnesses. So, instead of sitting there saying, we're the Pharisees, tell me how to micromanage your life with this set of rules. We take the law of God and turn it into a rule book to try to reform the conduct of our neighbor. We talk about idolatry and how destructive it is. when we make idols of things and how we ruin relationships and our marriages and our relationships with children and parents and co-workers and so forth. And indeed, because we are the same, we're subject to the same sinful urges in our life. And we're sinners yet. Dying of the old man, quickening of the new. We're still in the body of this death. Sin clings to our members. And so we're very credible witnesses about what sin does in a life. Rightly understood, we as sinners make the most credible of all witnesses, particularly since we know that as witnesses, our duty is to plant or to water in the certain knowledge it's God who gives the increase. What did Paul say? He said, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ as the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first, also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith that is written, the just shall live by faith. Living by faith means you're trusting God, living by faith. Remember all those superlatives we were reading about? That on peril of my soul's salvation, I avoid and flee all idolatry, sorcery, enchantments, invocation of saints, other creatures. I rightly acknowledge the only true God. Trust in Him alone with all humility and patience. Expect all good from Him only. Not some. Not these things. I'm going to say God did these things. I'm happy about that over here. This is stuff I did. Pretty happy with that too. You're not living by faith when you do that. It is all or nothing. Expect all good from Him only. Love, fear and honor Him with my whole heart. Not a divided heart. With a whole heart. So as rather to renounce all creatures than to do the least thing against His will. We'd set everything aside. We'd put everything on the altar because we're trusting in Christ and we're living by faith. And that's why when we're confronted with a world that wants to kick down the door, that wants to drag you into the streets, that Satan is a murderer at heart. They'd like nothing better than to destroy every, every exemplar of witness to his holy name in the earth. Domitian put that on, you know, on his head inscribed on his grave marker that, you know, Domitian, the name of Christians having been exterminated. You know, he's one of the Romans. So presumptuous that he thought he'd killed enough Christians that it had been exterminated and it was never going to be heard from again. Yeah, there'll be times of persecution. The good news is that when you are persecuted, the Lord is going to be gracious to you. You talk to Christians that are persecuted. It's amazing. They have some of the curious dispositions of any Christians you'll ever meet. The Lord is gracious to his people. But we also do not live our lives in fear. When you live by faith, you don't live by fear because you're having faith. You're justified by faith and you live by faith. It permeates every decision. It has to be the ground of every conversation, of every decision in the workplace, of every conversation between husband and wife and between parent and child. We live by faith. You try to live by rules and enforce those on your kids, I've got to tell you, you're going to have problems. Because the day is going to come that they don't have to listen to your rules. But you teach them to live by faith. And the Lord has your back. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this wonderful gospel message that Jesus Christ died to save sinners and we are chief among them. We thank you, Lord, that you redeemed not only our souls, but you've redeemed our lives, broadly speaking, in every area. And that we can look forward to the holy work of your Spirit sanctifying us in our relationships, in our lives, in our culture. Looking forward to the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Cause us, Father, to set aside every urge to idolatry that we might live by faith in Jesus' name. Amen.