A sermon about the 2nd commandment and biblical worship.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." -- Exodus 20:4-6

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." -- Deuteronomy 4:2

Reverend J.D. Smith of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland preaches on Exodus 20:4. Sabbath, August 21, 2022.

His three points of the sermon (from my notes):

1.) What is required for the 2nd commandment
2.) What is forbidden
3.) What are the reasons

The 2nd commandment also forbids worshiping the true God in a false way. Worship must only be what the Word prescribes. Images lead to us giving esteem to what is visible instead of the invisible God.

1.) It requires right worship
* God requires worship from the heart but also a right way of external / physical worship. For example, bowing / standing for prayer may illustrate reverence and respect to God. Worship must not cater to ourselves and our desires. Don't worship the way the heathen and surrounding nations worship their gods (Deut 12:30). Do not add or minus what God has prescribed. Don't worship according to your own devices / heart as King Jeroboam did in 1 Kings 12:26-33. ONLY what God has commanded is accepted by Him. God gets to decide what acceptable worship is, not sinful man. In Deut 4:15 we see that God is invisible, therefore worship is spiritual. We don't know what God looks like but we believe that He is (Hebrews 11:6), not "see" that He is. Examples of biblical parts of worship: praying, preaching of the Word, hearing of the Word, singing, reading of Scripture, solemn vows and even fasting. The church in its worldliness and own desires add many things to worship: not necessarily minusing these elements, but adding. This was the problem of the Corinthian church. They didn't minus the Lord's Supper but added horrible abuses to it (1Cor 11:17-34). Zeal, seriousness and reverence are also required in proper worship. We can only worship through our mediator: Christ. Do we hate every false way of worship? Are we zealous and jealous for the Lord's honor?

2.) What is not appointed from God's own Word is forbidden
* Some so-called Christians when using images to "help" worship, say they're worshiping not the image but God through the image. Roman Catholic theologians tried to distinguish the types of reverence to God, to Mary and to images but the common people could never understand the distinction: they would always end up giving the highest worship to the images or the same worship of God. Some first leaders of the Roman Catholic Church even tried to prevent images / limit their reverence. But it never worked. A little idolatry leads to more idolatry. It cannot be policed or maintained. Images are not forbidden, full stop, but are forbidden in worship. Forgoing certain worship commandments of Scripture are also violations of the 2nd commandment including breaking the Sabbath, neglecting family worship, baptism and the Lord's Supper. "Will-worship" is worshiping according to self or desire. Uninspired man-made hymns, adding musical instruments, requiring holy days like Christ-Mass and Easter, are not commanded in Scripture and therefore are 2CV. We must depend on the Spirit to keep the 2nd commandment.

3.) For the LORD thy God is a jealous God. God's sovereignty, proprietary and zeal
* Proprietary: He is THY God. You are His own people. Zeal: God has holy jealousy regarding His worship like a husband being jealous over an unfaithful wife. God visits iniquity upon the children even unto the third and fourth generation. Your sin can lead to the sin of your children (consider Luke 17:1-2). For your love of your children, keep the 2nd commandment. Children would follow the example of their parents. It would be their own sin but resulting and influenced by the disobedience of a father and mother. We must keep covenant faithfulness (Psalm 78:10, 25:10). Is it dear to your heart how God is worshiped? In truth? Are you zealous? Consider the warnings in Scripture of false worship: King Jeroboam (1Kings 12:26-33), Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-4), unfaithful Israel (Psalm 78:17), the Corinthians' abuse of the Supper (1Cor 11:29-30) and more.

For many more Free Presbyterian sermons from the Auckland congregation, see this link:

http://www.fpchurch.org.nz/sermons

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