Please turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 49, page 49. There we find Lord's Day 35 dealing with the Catechism's consideration of the Second Commandment. Once you have found that, please also turn to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42, we'll read together the first nine verses. it's really kind of interesting we'll also be looking back at isaiah chapter 41 a bit so if you would keep your bibles open we could go to isaiah 43 and especially isaiah 44 they all talk about idolatry the silliness of idols the uselessness and the worthlessness of idols but for our focus tonight, Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 9. First of all, we look at the Catechism, Lord's Day 35. We confess together what we believe with these questions and answers. What is God's will for us in the second commandment? That we in no way make any image of God, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word. May we then not make any image at all? God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Although creatures may be portrayed, yet God forbids making or having such images if one's intention is to worship them or to serve God through them. But may not images be permitted in the churches as teaching aids for the unlearned? No, we shouldn't try to be wiser than God. He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his word, not by idols that cannot even talk. Hear now the word of our God, Isaiah 42, beginning at verse 1. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says. He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare before they spring into being, I announce them to you. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. A beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, does it matter how we worship God? You see, it's an important question, especially as we consider all of the different styles of worship that are out there today and all of the different activities that are called worship today. Of course, there are some who say it's not important how we worship, it's only important that we worship. That's the important thing. Yet obviously it is very important to God. Because He gave a command specifically addressing how He is to be worshipped. Again, you recall that with the first commandment, our God addresses who is to be worshipped. He alone is to be worshipped. And then in the second commandment, He addresses how He is to be worshipped. The commandment says, You shall not make for yourself a graven 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 or serve them. He's talking about God images. He's talking about objects of worship. And we know that this was indeed a very important matter to God. Virtually every one of the Old Testament books somehow addresses idolatry and idol worship. And it's all throughout the New Testament as well. Especially in Deuteronomy 4, Moses reminds the people, You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol and image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground, or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the heavenly array, do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Moses reminds them of all of God's realm of creation. Not any part of it is legitimate. And he goes on in verse 24 to say, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. And boys and girls, this jealousy is not the kind of sinful jealousy that you and I often exercise. But this jealousy is an earnest desire, a righteous desire, we might say, for what is yours. God is jealous for His people. He is jealous for the worship of His people. an earnest desire for His people and His worship, not willing to share either one of them because sharing them is not for our good. And His jealousy for which we are to be thankful is His zeal that arises when sin threatens a covenant relationship. He becomes a consuming fire when sin threatens to strip His people away from Him or to strip the worship of His people away from Him. His worship is so important to God that He also said, as that commandment continues, For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Talking there about the iniquity of false worship. Worship leads to either blessing or to cursing. God will not tolerate improper or false worship. He says here, it's dangerous for the generations. That's why it is so important for parents to properly teach their children about God and about how He is to be worshipped. The danger is when parents fail to do that because children, we know, often pick up and practice the bad habits and the sin of the parents. The children are responsible for it, but so are the parents if they haven't taught. But notice the blessing. When by God's grace, the parents have taught and the children pick up because they often do follow the obedience of their parents. God promises blessing. May we never say that God doesn't bless obedience. Because in the second commandment, He states it very clearly with His own mouth that He does bless obedience. Beloved, violating God's worship is to treat him as less than he is. There is a certain protocol, certain manners, certain etiquette that is expected in the presence of royalty. If you were scheduled to meet the Queen of England or a king of a nation or maybe even the President of the United States, you might be sent a list of requirements. You might be sent a list of do's and don'ts when you are in the presence of this important person. and a certain protocol or a certain etiquette. The same is true, we might say, for the worship of God. For coming into his presence. God calls for worship that recognizes and promotes the truth of him. And therefore, with the second commandment, the believer is called to be showing God love through pleasing worship. To love God above all and to demonstrate that love through pleasing worship. Worship that is contrasted, first of all, with false worship. Verse 8 says again, I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. He's not only talking about worshipping false gods as God considers in the first commandment, but worshipping God in an object. Worshipping God in an image. And it might help us to understand why this makes God so angry if we consider heathen worship through the use of images. what that's all about. Because in essence, when God is worshipped wrongfully, it's turned into heathen worship. But with regard to false worship, heathen worship, we notice the ignorance of idolatry. And that ignorance, I think, we can understand if we notice its psychology. What's behind it? See, even the heathen knew that a wood or a stone or a metal image itself was just that. It was wood or stone or metal. It was lifeless. As the Lord says in chapter 41, verse 7, He nails down the idol so it will not topple. That's how lifeless it is. It has to be nailed in place in order to stand up. In chapter 44, again, if you read that, that's that humorous passage about the silliness of idolatry. The man goes out into the forest, cuts down a tree, and takes a piece of wood, and with half of it, he carves an idol. With the other half, he makes a fire and warms himself and makes his food. But then he bows down to the idol. It's lifeless, it's silliness. But you see, that image that was created then was said, was considered to represent a particular God, as we mentioned last week. That God was made visible in that crafted image and then it was only natural that, especially in the course of time, that that visible image was considered, it became the God itself. It was considered to be the God itself. And that then led to the belief that the idol itself contained the power of that false god. A power then which the worshiper could access and could manipulate through rituals and ceremonies in order to pacify their gods, in order to earn their favor. False worship is nothing but a meritorious kind of worship. Earning favor. Formalism. faith didn't matter. Just perform the ritual and perform it accurately and everything will be okay. But God made it clear to Israel, no, that's not how I operate. That's not how you are to operate with me. I do not delight in sacrifices or offerings. I delight in your heart. A heart of faith. And then when it came to that image, that crafted image, whatever it might be, it was man's imagination, you see, that determined what that image would look like. That was said to represent that particular God. Man determined that. And that then points to its foolishness. Because with man's imagination, which is sinful, even an idol that one says is the true God, that idol can never be God as he truly is, but can only be God as man thinks he is. And the danger too then was that the idol's presence, the very presence of that crafted image, that idol, meant blessing to the people. They figured it brought blessing. Just having it. Israel fell into that trap. You may remember that when she was in battle with the Philistines, they got the bright idea to carry the Ark of the Covenant. God dwelt with His people in the Ark of the Covenant, so why not take that Ark of the Covenant into the midst of the battle against what God had said? We have Him with us. It ought to be to our advantage, to our good luck. And, you know, the Philistines, they were heathen worshipers. To them, it was a great move. They were terrified. But for Israel, it was a disastrous move. And it only proved the impotence of idolatry. Powerlessness. Idols fashioned after man's imagination are creatures. Again, as Moses made clear in Deuteronomy 4, God has no form. He is spirit. Jesus said we are to worship. him in spirit and in truth and as the catechism rightly says he cannot and he may not be visibly portrayed in any way and images are not to be made if one's intention is to worship them or to worship God through them because to do so is to limit what may be known about God it is to keep man focused on the creaturely. And they are powerless. As the psalmist in Psalm 115 again makes clear, they have eyes, but they can't see. They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have hands, but they can't handle. Feet, but they cannot walk. They've got to be nailed down in order to stand up rightly. And God also points to the powerlessness of idols in chapter 41 as He issues Israel a challenge. Listen to what he says in verses 22-24. Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. We can almost hear God speaking tongue-in-cheek here. Tell us what the former things were so that we may consider them and know their final outcome or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what the future holds so we may know that you are God's. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. You say you are God's, so do what only God can do. Prove yourself. But in verse 24 we read, But you are less than nothing, and your works are utterly worthless. He who chooses you is detestable. And then verse 29, See, they are all false. Their deeds amount to nothing. Their images are but wind and confusion. He who chooses you is detestable. And Paul shows us in Romans chapter 1 that when the wicked men do not see the glory of God in creation but instead worship the creature rather than the Creator, because they figure they can worship as they please, it goes on to figure they can live as they please. They have no standard. It leads to complete wickedness. We know, beloved, that Israel violated the second commandment. They made idols through which to worship God. Boys and girls, you remember the golden calf at Mount Sinai? Aaron told Moses, well, I just threw the gold and the jewelry into the fire and out popped this golden calf. And we remember the golden calves that Jeroboam set up at Bethel and Dan. Israel violated this commandment and experienced God's curse. She was punished at Mount Sinai. Many died and ultimately captivity for both the kingdom of Israel and here the kingdom of Judah that Isaiah is speaking to. They would be sent into captivity into Babylon. And really, as we know, because they did not learn, they always went to false gods and to worshiping God in the form of idols. And when it comes to church history, we know that in the early church, the early church strongly opposed any sort of images. But over time, images of Mary or of the saints crept into the church, and these images were considered to have power, it was believed. The power of God was with the people who had these images. The time of the Reformation, we know, rid in many of the Reformation churches of images, yet the Roman Catholic Church, there the images, though they changed their tune a little bit and said, well, images are not to be adored, they're not to be worshipped, yet they are able to serve as visual education tools, as books for the laity, as the older version of the Catechism quotes. That these images that are said to represent God Himself can be used as an effective tool for teaching. However, as the Catechism rightly says, as God has taught in His Word, He will not be taught about this way. He is not to be taught of this way because it distorts Him. He will be taught only by the living preaching of His Word. His Word is living and sharper than any two-edged sword. And the true and pure preaching of the Word of God is that very Word by which He will be taught to mankind. And then there's modern idolatry. Well, modern idolatry is not so much what is called crass idolatry. Again, carved images, figures that you can see and touch, except, again, for those who have the little images on their dashboard of Mary or other saints. But the church, by and large, it seems like crass idolatry is not so much the problem. But modern idolatry is more what is called refined idolatry. And refined idolatry can include a number of things. Refined idolatry includes self-willed, self-designed, man-centered worship that makes people feel good, that is entertaining, that is non-threatening. Or refined idolatry may include traditions or formalism or even ceremonies that we practice. Even the Lord's Supper, if it's not considered properly and correctly. If one has the idea, well, I have to go to the Lord's Supper just to have the Lord's Supper, but whose heart is not in it, it becomes an idol. Our traditions or formalisms or ceremonies that are practiced out of habit and not out of faith, yet people find satisfaction in them. And these things then become a test of orthodoxy, and if you don't practice it the way we do, well, there's a problem with you. Refined idolatry. Refined idolatry also includes, we might say, taking comfort, simply taking comfort that I went to church today and therefore God is satisfied with me for another week because of what I have done for Him. Refined idolatry. In all of this, refined idolatry can be summed up with that familiar song, I did it my way. But God says, no, do it my way. But it also includes conceptions or ideas of God that deny one of His revealed attributes. For example, I think of the openness of God theory that has been taught for generations. But again, in the last years, it's being proposed again. And that openness of God theory basically says that God is not omniscient. That God didn't know what Adam was going to name all the animals. He just left it up to Adam. that God doesn't know what's going to happen to you and me tomorrow, but He is there. That just in case it's bad, He's there to help you and me. He's there to help pick up the pieces. Refined idolatry. Or a personal view of God's character that is different than He says it is. And that is seen in modern heathenism. Beloved, modern heathens, as one commentator says, think that God is like them and that they can lead their own lives as they please with divine acceptance. I can live like I want, but I'm still acceptable to God. He will accept me. And the quote goes on, Modern idolatry makes God into an actionless, gutless God who only knows love and no jealousy. We hear that, don't we? Well, my God is a God of love. My God would never send a hurricane and wipe out 10,000 people. My God would never do this or that. My God would never punish those who sin. Because my God is a God of love. And the only response we can give is, well, then your God isn't the God of the Bible. He isn't the true God. Because a God who knows only love and no jealousy or justice, our God would not be true to Himself if that were the case. They say he accepts homosexuality and abortion and adultery and those kinds of things which God clearly says in his word he does not. God will not share his glory and praise with idols which cannot begin to represent the truth of the glory of his being. Nothing deserves the praise that he deserves. And he will not accept or bless worship that fails to take both his love and his justice seriously or worship that treats Him differently than He has revealed Himself to be. Beloved, a proper conception of God, the proper worship of God, can never come from human imagination. As we sang in the song, number 13 from Psalm 8, as we look at the grandeur of creation, as we look at God's power in creation, what are we to learn from that? How weak is man? It can never come from human imagination because our imagination is limited. Our imagination is stained with sin. God alone reveals the truth of Himself and how He is to be worshipped. He teaches that pleasing worship in the second place recognizes His glory. It recognizes the glory of His being. He says, I am the Lord. That is my name. He's pointing back to Mount Sinai when He gave His name to Moses. I am. I am the eternally existent One. The eternal God who has covenanted with His people. And the glory of His being also includes that He is independent and He is sovereign. The truth of His being and nature does not depend on what man thinks or believes about Him. He had proven to Israel over and over again that He depends on no one. He depends on nothing. He is independent. But all depends on Him, as He also makes clear if you read Isaiah chapter 41. And He is sovereign. He is sovereign over all. He is exalted over all. He cannot be caught, boys and girls. He cannot be caught. He cannot be confined in an image or in an imagination. Solomon made that clear in the dedication of the temple. He said the highest heaven cannot contain you. So then how could this temple? And if the highest heaven and even the glorious temple could not contain Him, how can an idol? The glory of His being is that He is eternal. He is independent and sovereign and so many other things. But also, He is incomparable and He is invisible. The Lord says in Isaiah 46, verse 5, To whom will you compare Me or count Me equal? to whom will you liken Me that we may be compared? In essence, the Lord is saying there, it's impossible. You cannot do it. It cannot be done. Over and over again, God's people needed to be reminded of the being of God, the glory of His being. Man's ideas are inadequate. They fall short. They do not do justice. They never tell the whole story of God. And the same is true with pictures of Jesus. I know this is always an ongoing debate, even among God's people. Well, we must be reminded of this. You see, Jesus, the Bible says, is the image of the invisible God. The image of the invisible, glorious God. And therefore, so-called pictures are dangerous and misleading because they only try to portray His humanity, and even that, falsely. and therefore then separate His humanity from His divinity, which is not to be done. They cannot be separated. There was a heresy many, many, many years ago called Nestorianism that tried to do just that, to either confuse or to separate the natures of Christ. You see, even a so-called picture of Jesus is a misrepresentation and limits what the Bible teaches about Him. Pleasing worship recognizes the glory of His being, that He is the one and only Almighty God who cannot be truly and fully represented by human imagination. Our worship that is pleasing to Him then is to recognize that, to be in accordance with the glory of His being. He cannot be reduced. But it also recognizes the glory of His work, His work of creation. Verse 5 says, this is what God the Lord says. Again, God the Lord, those words together are beautiful because it's talking about the covenant God, the one who had covenanted with his people, but also saying he is the one and only almighty God. This is what God the Lord says, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. Now that very verse, beloved, because of the terms used in the Hebrew language, points us right back to Genesis chapter 1. Right back to in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. And what we are being told here is that this is the very God of life. This is saying that all things, even man, exists and lives only because of Him. Nothing else. Not because of idols. They're dead. And therefore, our worship is to reflect that all things owe their existence from and dependence on Him. He does not owe His existence. He does not owe His dependence on us. We owe it on Him. But also the glory of His work, not only of creation, but also, ultimately, His work of redemption. You see, really, this is what Isaiah chapter 42, verses 1 through 7 is all about, or 1 through 9 is all about. This passage, this short passage, points to Jesus Christ. He is the servant. The servant in verse 1 is pointing to the Messiah to come. We know that because Matthew applies this passage to Jesus in Matthew chapter 12. And in verse 1 we read there, the Lord says, I will put my spirit on him. And in Isaiah 61 we read similar words, the sovereign Lord is upon me. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me. And Jesus applied those words to himself. This passage points to Jesus. And if we were able to have the time to consider it in particular very closely, it speaks of the character of his ministry, the character of his humble coming. It speaks of the righteousness of his kingdom. It speaks of the healing and the deliverance that he had come to bring. Now we know for the short-sighted view, Isaiah was pointing Judah to their promised deliverance from captivity, but ultimately, Isaiah is pointing to the eternal deliverance of all believers from sin. That's what's being taught in verses 1 through 7. And therefore, when God says in verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols, that is said in that context of Christ, of the Messiah. And therefore, in verse 8, the Lord is saying that He alone is able. He alone will accomplish this. This very work is a part of His glory. Idols are worthless. They cannot accomplish salvation. They cannot represent salvation. They are not worthy of the praise for what God alone can do, would do, and has done. Pleasing worship recognizes the glory of His being. and the glory of His work and then also the glory of His revelation. Because the only way to know His glory, the only way to know the glory of His being and of His work is in His Word. God has revealed Himself through His Son in His Word, the Bible made real to us by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. God has told us Himself what He wants us to know, what we are to know. And He reveals in His Word all that we need to know for salvation. He reveals in His Word His love poured out upon undeserving sinners through Jesus Christ. He reveals in His Word our hope that is secure in Him. Because indeed, He is almighty, powerful, majestic, and loving God. And that revelation of God is to be preached. Not to try to be fashioned in some sort of an image, but it is to be preached. Because God has chosen through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And He alone has given us the glorious picture for our eyes, the sacraments. You see, beloved, that is the heart of Christian worship. The true preaching of the Word of God. Paul says in Romans 10, how can they call on Him of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? You see, our God is a God of communication. A God dialoguing with His people, making Himself known to His people from the very beginning through His spoken word. And our worship then is to be regulated by what He says is pleasing to Him. As that first answer says, not to worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word. God's Word regulates it. We try to order our worship in a way that follows what God prescribes in the Bible. If you think of our morning order of worship, for example, God speaks. It's a dialogue, you see? A conversation. God speaks. He speaks in the call to worship. He speaks in the greeting. He speaks in His law. He speaks in the assurance of pardon. He speaks in the reading of Scripture. He speaks in the preaching. He speaks in the benediction. And His people are called to respond. We respond, every time He speaks, we respond in prayer, or we respond with singing. We respond with confession. We respond with a profession of faith, through the Apostles' Creed. We respond through the giving of our gifts and offerings. God communicates with His people in a dialogue. But worship, you see, that changes or limits or distorts God or is different from what He requires also then really challenges the very salvation He accomplished. Because, beloved, if our worship says that we don't believe what God says about worship, that we don't take Him seriously about what He says, about what He says is pleasing to Him, then how will that worship demonstrate that we believe what He says about salvation? Again, we see that in Romans 1 with the heathen there. when they went off to worship creatures instead of the Creator, then they also left any sort of standard by which to live their life. When it comes to worship of our God, we are not to focus on created things on our own imaginations or on our own good ideas. But we are called to set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, as Paul says in Colossians 3. Worshiping Him in a way that recognizes and clearly gives evidence that we understand that our God is the supreme creator and ruler of the universe. He is sovereign over all. He cannot be bound by the things of life. He is beyond the things of life. Yet, in His love, He has saved us in Christ Jesus. Praise be to God that this God, In Jesus Christ, that He paid also for our sin of limiting God and limiting the truth of Him in our worship. That He paid for our willful and our selfish violation of God's holiness and majesty and otherness from created things. That He paid for our sin of treating God as less than He is. Imagine that, our sin against God's very being. It's all paid for. And now as those who are in Christ Jesus by faith, those who are one with Him by faith, God forgives all of our man-centered and short-sighted worship, and He receives our worship as acceptable, as perfectly pure and without idolatry in Christ Jesus. And in Christ Jesus, He calls us to love Him above all. To demonstrate that love by worshiping Him in the splendor of His holiness. And in our living, as our lives are to be offered as a living sacrifice of praise, in our living we are to live in dependence upon this living and powerful God alone, recognizing His glory and giving praise and glory and credit to Him alone. And beloved, may He, by the Holy Spirit, then guard our hearts and minds, not to think on Him limited by our own imaginations, but instead directed by His revelation. May He continue to open our hearts more and more to see, to recognize the beauty and the majesty of Him and lead us in more faithful and pleasing worship of Him as we look forward to the day in glory when we will see Him as He is. And then we will praise and worship Him as we are. Beloved, why is how we worship so important to God? Because through worship, he brings us into his presence by his Spirit. And through worship, he delights in those he has saved, who delight in the truth of him. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, as we come before you at the close of this service together, at the close of this day, but the close of our worship of You together on this day. We pray that You would continue to teach us and instruct us. Help us by Your Spirit more and more to offer pleasing worship to You, which indeed treats You, glorifies You as You deserve, as You ought to be. For indeed, You are great and greatly to be praised. And Father, we do look forward to that day when we will see You in all of Your beauty and majesty unhindered by the veil that covers our eyes right now. And until that day, Father, continue to lead us and guide us in that which is pleasing to You, for Jesus' sake. Oh, we thank You for being acceptable in Your sight, only for Jesus' sake. In His name we pray, Amen.