This evening, we're having a message from the Catechism, Lord's Day 34, question and answer 92 through 95, which deals with the first commandment. And so our text for the scripture is Exodus chapter 20, which has the Ten Commandments. And rather than just read that one lonely little solitary verse all by itself, I thought it fitting that we would read the Ten Commandments so that we would get a little bit of the context of the first commandment. And so if you would join me in turning in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, and we'll read chapter 20, verses 1 through verse 17. So let's give attention to the reading of God's word, Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 1. Hear now the word of the Lord. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. 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 or 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 generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. If you can tell from the title of the sermon, it's perhaps a phrase with which most of us are familiar. Mirror, mirror, on the wall. And as the rest of the phrase goes, tell me who's the fairest of them all. And I suspect that most of us associate that line or that phrase with Disney's at least somewhat benign telling of Snow White and the seven dwarves. But if you do a little bit of digging around, or perhaps just a little Googling, you can find that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs actually has a little bit of a darker origin to it. And in particular, it was collected by two 19th century Germans called the Brothers Grimm, who collected children's folklore. And this is where this tale comes from. But in particular, I think it's not just simply the idea of a children's tale that is wrapped up in the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or more particularly just the story or that particular line. I think what we have in there, as we do with much folklore, whether it's in our own country or whether it comes from days of old, is that it taps into human patterns of thought. It taps into ideas that we find in the culture or perhaps even in the religious practices of any given nation or people. And in this particular case, I think what this taps into is it taps into the proclivities, the inclinations that we have as human beings, more notably as sinful human beings, to be turned in on ourselves. Or as Calvin once wrote, in curvatus say, that sinful man is turned in on himself. In other words, what is it but someone who idolatrizes themself? Who else would go in front of a mirror and say, who's the fairest of them all, expecting the answer to be me, of course? As Calvin said, we are a perpetual idol factories. We can turn everything and anything into an idol. Well, it should come as no surprise then that here the God of heaven and earth, the God of Israel, in a sense, confronts man's sinfulness and all of his sinful proclivities in turning in on himself to worship himself and his own desires, and he confronts sinful man head on, head on by saying, You should not have any other gods except for me, and me alone. So what I'd like us to do is first look at this commandment, this first commandment in the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. I want us to look at it in its original setting, so that we have an appreciation and an understanding of how the Israelites would have understood it, and in terms of the significance for the people that first heard it. They are delivered upon Sinai. But then secondly, and very importantly, we have to look at the connection of the commandment and how it is related to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His person and work. Because if we approach the law apart from Christ, the law then only brings condemnation. It's only through Christ that the law has the condemnation removed, and the law therefore is no longer a judge over us, but rather a friend and a guide to show us what is good, acceptable, and pleasing to the Lord in terms of our Christian walk. So first, in its original context. Secondly, in terms of the commandment's connection to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, in terms of, so how then should we live? If this is what the commandment means, if this is its connection to Christ, then what does it mean for the Christian life? What does it mean for how we conduct ourselves on a regular basis? So its original context, how the commandment is related to Christ, and then in terms of connecting the commandment to ourselves in terms of the Christian life and what it means. Well, beloved, the commandment comes to us here in chapter 20 of verse 3, where God, rather plainly and simply, in very few words, says, you shall have no other gods before me. And I think it's when we appreciate the commandment within its original context here that we can begin to get an understanding of the significance of what God means here. Most particularly, I think, if we just look at the verse right above it in verse 2, it can begin to flesh out for us the significance of the commandment. Here God not only gives them this commandment, this first, where he says, you shall have no other gods before me, but just before it he says, I am Yahweh, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Here the Israelites, I think, would have immediately been drawn to their exodus redemption. Chances are they would have remembered the words that Moses had spoken a little earlier in terms of their great departure, their great exodus from Egypt When God told them through Moses, he says in Exodus 12, 12, I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And listen carefully, he says, And on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. God delivered them from Egypt, But it wasn't just simply an outpouring of redemption upon the people. It was also a judgment upon the Egyptians. And not only was it a judgment against them, but it was a judgment against everything that they called holy. It was a judgment against all of their so-called gods. If you look at the connection, for example, between the plagues that were delivered against Egypt and their gods that they worshipped, you begin to see a correlation between the two. For example, when Moses turned the Nile into blood, it wasn't just some sort of parlor trick, but it was Yahweh's way of saying through his servant Moses, I am superior to the God of the Nile, your so-called God, and I will show you how I am superior to him by driving a dagger through his heart. When God, through Moses, sent frogs throughout the land, we should recognize that the Egyptians worshipped frogs. And here, the very so-called God that they worshipped was now totally covering the land. Frogs are noisy, I know, from personal experience. Somebody's pool, which will remain nameless, was invaded with frogs because it turned green. They're noisy, you can't sleep. And I suspect they're gross. I mean, I don't know. I don't care much for frogs. But here is their so-called god, and the land is flooded with them. The Lord is, in effect, saying, you want to worship frogs? Here you go. Have at it. I'm greater than your so-called frog god. The Egyptians worshipped cows. Seems odd. I mean, we've heard of when pigs fly. Well, the cow was the sky goddess. Not a very aerodynamic god as far as flying gods go, but so it was the case. And yet the Lord struck down the livestock of Egypt. Perhaps, though, the greatest exclamation point in God's declaration of his superiority over the entire Egyptian pantheon is when he brought darkness over the land of Egypt. You see, the Egyptians worshipped the sun. And they believed that Pharaoh was the incarnation of the sun god, Ra. And so here, God was declaring to his people, as well as to the Egyptians, all of your so-called gods, even the greatest of your gods, Ra, I will cast him into darkness. I am greater than anything or anyone that you deem to be worthy of worship. I alone am God. But, beloved, even within the broader context of the first five books of the Bible, we can see that God is declaring his sovereignty and indeed claiming that exclusive identity as the one true God over all things. For example, in the first three chapters of Genesis, what God, I think, is doing through that narrative of the creation is he is reminding his people as they prepare to go into the land of Canaan, a land where the people are given over to the worship of everything. If it moves, they worshipped it. If it didn't move, well, they worshipped that too. And the Lord was saying to His people, Don't worship the sun. I created it. Don't worship the moon. I created that too. Don't worship the stars. I created them. Don't worship the animals. I created them. Don't worship trees. I created them. Everything that you see, I created it. I am sovereign over it. I am the one and only true God in all of the creation, in all of heaven and earth. And so this is why the Israelites were not supposed to worship anyone or anything else except for the one true God who had been revealed to them through the prophet Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, the Lord was constantly reminding them of the exclusive rights He had to worship. In the 45th chapter of Isaiah, for example, in verse 6, He says, From the rising of the sun and from the west, there is none besides Me. I am the Lord. There is no other. In Isaiah 45, verse 21, there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none besides me. And so here, the Lord is simply declaring through his law. He is saying, I am the one true God. Worship me and no one else. But on top of this, I think the Israelites would not only have been reminded of who God is in terms of being contrasted with the false gods of the pagans all around them, the false gods of the Egyptians, But they would have been reminded of what God had done for them. I am the Lord your God. I delivered you out from under Pharaoh. I delivered you from the land of Egypt. They would have had reason to praise him and to worship him exclusively, not only for who he was as the one true God, but also for what he had done for them. I suspect that if any one of us were out for a swim, found ourselves caught in an undertow and were in the process of drowning, were someone to come out and to save us, we would probably hold that person in a degree of high esteem. We would be grateful to them for risking their lives to save ours. Well, if that's just a small sample of how we would treat someone who had saved us, what and how should we treat the God who had redeemed us out from the bondage, out from under Pharaoh in Egypt. So much so, beloved, that the relationship between God and his people in the prophet Hosea in the second chapter is characterized as a marriage relationship. Israel was called God's wife, albeit his faithless wife, but nevertheless his wife. And in any marriage agreement, there's always the understanding that when you get married, you forsake all others you enter into that marriage it is an exclusive relationship between the two between the husband between the wife the woman forsakes all others the husband forsakes all others it is exclusive and this is the nature of the relationship between god and his people he alone was worthy of their worship he alone had redeemed them he alone was the creator of heaven and earth and therefore he alone was supposed to be the object of their soul affection of their all of their worship of all of their praise and i think we even find this captured for example in the great shema hero israel the lord our god the lord is one you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and these words that i command you today shall be on your heart in other words beloved i don't think we should construe this and some sort of, you know, the imposition of law. And with the imposition of law, it's simply cold and it's calculated and it's exacting. While the law may be demanding and the law may be exacting, the Lord intended it to elicit a response from his people. It was supposed to be marked by love. It was supposed to be a marriage relationship between a husband and wife. So if that's the commandment in its initial context, how then, secondly, does the commandment relate to the person and work of Christ? How does it relate to the person and work of Christ? I think absolutely crucial here, beloved, is that we recognize that we do not stand at the foot of Mount Sinai with the Israelites. We have not been sprinkled with the blood of animals. We have not sworn self-maledictory oath upon ourselves that if we disobey the law of God, then a curse shall fall upon us and upon our children, as the Israelites did at the foot of Mount Gerizim and at the foot of Mount Ebal. Rather, we stand after the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is crucial here in recognizing the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and the first commandment is that the first commandment says that we shall have no other God before me, before us, before the people. And so here we are to worship God and God alone. But then the question is, is how do we know who the one true God is? Well, in not so many words, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who reveals the one true God. Think, for example, to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and following, where the author says, Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he's spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. So that here, the one true God who has identified himself as the sole recipient of our worship and praise is supremely and exclusively revealed in Jesus Christ, His Son. It's the Gospel of John who identifies this relationship so clearly in the first chapter. John chapter 1, verses 1 and following. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Hear John echoing those opening words of the creation narrative from Genesis. That narrative identified with Yahweh. And so now here we understand that it is Jesus Christ that supremely reveals the one true God. And if this is the case, well, then it should be no surprise to us when Jesus makes the claim to be the exclusive means by which we reach the Father. In John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So what this means, beloved, for us as the people of God is that the first commandment demands that we worship the one true God as He has been revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ. We may not worship any other. We may not approach God through any other means other than through His Son. That's as C.S. Lewis once said, the Lord Jesus Christ with that claim is either Lord, liar, or lunatic. He offers us no other options. We cannot say with so many people out there in the world, well, Jesus was a nice man. He was a good teacher. He really meant well. That's not an option that's before us. If somebody were to claim to be God and to be the only way to be saved and wasn't, well, then he's either a liar on the level of a demon or he's a lunatic, as Lewis would say, on the level of someone who thought himself to be a poached egg. Not sure why he said poached egg, but it seems like it fits. But that's not the option that we have before us. He is the Lord. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, which is why the Apostle Paul, think of it, a first century Jew, a Pharisee of Pharisee like Paul, It would be unthinkable for him to say that Jesus was God unless it was true. And indeed, that's what Paul says in the ninth chapter of Romans, verse 5, when he talks about Israel, to whom belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all. Blessed forever, amen. Here, Saul, the former Pharisee, because his eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit, looks to the Lord Jesus by faith and recognizes Him as God in the flesh, God incarnate. And so, beloved, like Israel of old who was betrothed to the Lord through the Exodus, we too have been betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His bride. And it is to Him that we owe our exclusive affections, our worship and our praise. We are to give them to no other. We are to forsake all others. So if this is the nature of the command in its original setting, and if this is a portion of the connection of this command to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, how does this commandment bear upon us? Thirdly, how does this commandment bear upon us in terms of our own Christian life? I think that when we look at the Old Testament narratives, I think we think that, well, that was then, this is now. Those people were silly. I mean, they worshipped blocks of wood, stones. They believed in crazy things that we no longer believe in. Certainly, we're not given to superstitions. Certainly, we're not given to such idolatries. We're much more sophisticated, you know. I mean, we wear coats and ties to church. We drive in cars. We use cell phones and GPS devices. We're not as silly and as easily fooled as the Old Testament Israelites were. But yet, beloved, in the heart of sinful man lies a proclivity, an inclination, a desire, a bent, whatever you want to call it, towards idolatry. I mean, think about it. In some countries, people go starving in the streets because they will not slaughter a cow to feed people because they believe that the cow is somehow divine. Certainly, modern people who use great technological advances would never open the newspaper and turn to the horoscope to find out what might happen. In other words, beloved, we can turn everything and anything to an idol and no matter how many technological advances that we may have brought in and however much science has progressed, we still have wicked and sinful hearts. The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1, verses 22 and 23, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. I don't know if you've ever seen it. and perhaps you'll Google it if I mention it, but I remember once reading a story of a man who'd spent something like $150,000 in plastic surgery and tattoo art to convert himself to look like a leopard. I thought, well, there's idolatry. There's Romans 1 in living color. It seems that no matter how advanced we get, we still go mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all? And I hope, O mirror, that you say me or whatever it is that I happen to desire or want? How many people refuse to acknowledge the existence of a god and at the same time carry about a lucky rabbit's foot? How many athletes have special rituals that they go through because they don't want to disrupt the winning streak that they have going on? Here they deny the existence of God and then yet nevertheless bow the knee to the god of good fortune in whatever way they see fit. Beloved, the law of God condemns all of those things. The law of God condemns all of those things. In question 94 of the Catechism, it says, What does God require in the first commandment? That as much as I love my soul's salvation, I avoid and flee all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints or other creatures, and that I rightly acknowledge the only true God, trust in him alone, submit to him with all humility and patience, expect it all good from him only, and love, fear, and honor him with my whole heart, so that I will leave and forsake all creatures rather than do even the least thing against his will. The first commandment prohibits all sorts of things like that, such as superstitions and idolatry. So in one sense, beloved, I think when we hear the commandment, we should certainly hope that the Lord Jesus Christ would deliver us from our idolatries. That as theologians call it, with the second use of the law or the pedagogical use of the law, that the law would condemn us of our sin, that it would condemn us for our idolatry, and that the Holy Spirit, through the use of the word, would cause us to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one true God who not only is the living God, but is also the one who has redeemed us and that he would change us, that he would transform us. But we should recognize that that's not the only thing that the law does for us. Certainly we should pray, for example, for our conversion from unbelief to belief. We should pray for the conversion of others so that our unbelieving friends, our unbelieving family, Our relatives, whatever the case may be, would be converted. But that's not where the law stops. That's not where the first commandment stops. I'm not quite sure how a catechetical sermon works, but I'm going to cheat a little bit, and I hope that that's not against the law. But I'm going to cheat and look ahead to questions 114 and 115. Hopefully I'm not stealing the minister's thunder when they preach on those matters. But listen to what the catechism says here on these two questions about how the law functions. Question 114, but can those who are converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? No, but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of disobedience, yet so that with earnest purpose they begin to live not only according to some, but according to all the commandments of God. So here the catechism recognizes that, hey, the beginnings that we have after our conversion are only just that, initial steps. So then here, question 115, why then will God have the Ten Commandments preached so strictly, since in this life no one can keep them? Notice the idea here is that it's expected that the church of Christ would preach the law strictly. First, that all our life long we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature and so become the more earnest in seeking remission of sins and righteousness in Christ. Second, that we may constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be renewed more and more after the image of God till after this life we arrive at the goal of perfection. You see, what the catechism is saying here is that we constantly need the law of God. not only in our conversion to show us our idolatry in this particular case, but also so that it would continue to show us what is good, acceptable, and pleasing to the Lord throughout our Christian life, so that it would continue to show us where our fall into idolatry or repeated falls back into idolatry might lie. So in this sense, I want to say we should always be looking into the mirror. We should always be saying, mirror, mirror on the wall. But the mirror, beloved, should not be one of our own construction. It should not be one where we look to see our gleaming, sparkling smile. But rather, we should look into the mirror of the law. We should look into the mirror of the law so that we know constantly of God's holy character, especially as it has been revealed in Christ. And so that throughout our Christian walk, we can also know how frequently we fall short of that divine standard of perfection. And so that we would constantly flee to Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, but so that we would also constantly call out to Christ in prayer that he would have mercy upon us and that he would conform us more and more to his image on a daily basis. So in that sense, we should constantly say, oh, mirror, mirror on the wall, the mirror of God's law, show me where I fall short. Show me where Christ has fulfilled the law on my behalf to give me the hope of the redemption that I need, but also to show me how much more I need Christ for my sanctification so that I might daily cry out to Him, oh Lord, sanctify me, Remove my idolatries in my heart. And we might say, well, I'm not so sure that I have all that many idolatries. I mean, the previous question talks about sorceries and superstitions. And when I get the Chinese fortune cookie, I eat the cookie and I throw away the fortune. Right? So I'm not worried about such things. Well, beloved, this is where we shouldn't be so soft on ourselves. Remember, the catechism talks about the strict preaching, which in one sense I want to say, if you want to look at strict, look up the Ten Commandments and the larger catechism from the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Standards. Really long answers, long answers. But notice what question 95 says, which makes the same point, albeit very succinctly. What is idolatry? It is instead of our one true God who has revealed himself in his word or along with the same to conceive or have something else on which to place our trust. To conceive or have something else on which to place our trust. You see, anytime we place our trust in anyone or anything else, that trust that belongs exclusively to our triune Lord, we're violating the first commandment. And the Scriptures are replete with the various idols that we can create. The Scriptures identify man's strength as being a God. Habakkuk 1.11, Then they sweep away like the wind and go on guilty men whose own might is their God. How many Christians trust in the might of this nation, thinking that we need not worry because our military might is great. Possessions can be a God according to the scriptures. You have Job who rejected the idea when accused that he says, I have not made gold my trust or find gold my confidence. There are so many Christians who look at the cars parked in their garages. They look at their homes. They look at the clothes that they wear. And they find confidence in that. They find security. Perhaps even a sense of superiority to their brothers and sisters in the church. Wealth can be a God. I suspect that prior to 2008, there were a number of people in many Christian churches who believed that they were essentially safe and secure. But if one thing that the last couple of years have perhaps has shown us is that in one sense, there's no wealth that is secure. I mean, did you see the paper the other day? One trade and $2 billion lost. I wonder if that guy still has a job. One guy, one trade, $2 billion, gone. I think that goes to show us is that how foolish we are in thinking that our confidence and that our security can lie in a number at the bottom of a register when the Lord can simply say, if that's what you're trusting and let me show you how foolish it is to trust in that and I can take it away in a moment. Beloved, food can be a God. It may seem odd, but the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 talking about false teachers says their end is their destruction, their God is their belly. How many of us have turned food into a God? Family can be a God. It may not seem like it should, but it can. I cannot tell you how many times in the pastorate when I would have someone come to me and say, well, I've got to go on family vacation. Okay, that's fine. Sounds like fun. Except I'm going to be staying with family. And that part of the family doesn't like to go to church. And it's always a bit uncomfortable when I try to get up and leave the house in the morning on Sunday to go to church because they start to give me a hard time. And I was wondering if you think for the sake of peace if perhaps maybe it would be best if I don't go to church just so that I don't ruffle people's feathers, I could still, you know, tell them about the Lord. Matthew chapter 10, verses 37 and following. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Beloved, I think all of these passages, all of these different things add up to the fact that even as Christians we still have a capacity, an inclination to turn anything into an idol. You name it and we can worship it. You name it and we can substitute the one true living God as he is revealed in Christ and place our trust in someone else or something else. This, I believe, is what we have to recognize. This, if you will, I hope, is the strict preaching of the law. And that we should come to a point, beloved, where the commandment should rub us the wrong way. Because if it doesn't, then it means that we're perfectly sanctified. And we have no need for the law anymore. And I could be wrong about this one. You never know. But I suspect that there's no one in this room that is yet perfectly sanctified. Maybe somebody that's close. I'm kidding, right? There's no one who is perfectly sanctified. No one. But beloved, here is where, again, we have to recognize the beauty of the redemption that God has given us in Christ. Is that when we hear the law's disapproval, when we hear of the thunder of the law, We need not flee within ourselves to think if we just simply redouble our efforts, try a little bit harder, that we'll somehow overcome the deficit. Instead, beloved, we must turn to the one true living God who has revealed Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ, and we can rejoice in knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled every single jot and tittle of the law. When the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted and the tempter said, Here, I will give to you all of the kingdoms of this earth if you simply bow down and worship me. What did Christ tell him? Be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And even, beloved, in the depths of his sufferings, he never failed to worship his father. Never. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, not my will, but thine be done. He was perfectly obedient to the law and he has taken away the law's condemnation. And we know of the Apostle Paul's gorgeous hymn to the obedience of Christ in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11. That because he was obedient even to the point of death, death on a cross, that he is given the name that is above every name. That at the name of the Lord Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth. and every tongue confess that he is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. And that, beloved, that is our embassy of peace, the person and work of Christ, so that when we do hear the condemnation of the law, we can rest assured in knowing that Christ has silenced it and that the law can no longer bring its condemnation upon us. But at the same time, beloved, I hope we hear that we still need the law to show us how much more we need the Lord Jesus Christ for our sanctification and for our daily Christian walk. There is never a moment, ever, when we are without a desperate need for the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as much in our conversion as we do throughout every single moment of our lives. So, beloved, reflect upon the first commandment. Allow it to roam freely in your hearts, bringing its demand for perfection to bear against all of our idolatrous desires. But then in so doing, flee to Christ, knowing that through his incarnation and through his life, death, resurrection and ascension, we see every jot and tittle of the law fulfilled. But then at the same time, reflect upon the law, beloved, and see the perfection of the image, if you will, into whose image we are being renewed, And rejoice in knowing that when Christ returns, he will remove every single idolatrous desire from our hearts. And indeed, as the greatest commandment states, we will then love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, with all of our minds, and with all of our strength. Long for that day, but until that day, pray that the Lord protect us and guide us and help us to flee from idolatry to his glory. Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Father God, we are grateful for your Son, fulfilling every jot and tittle of the law. Indeed, he has done what we are incapable of doing. We pray, O Lord, that we would not be fearful of the strict preaching of the law, but rather we would embrace it, for we are in desperate need of your law. With the psalmist, O Lord, we pray that we would love your law, that we would meditate upon it day and night, and that the law would show to us the perfect work of your Son that we receive by faith alone through grace alone, and that imputed righteousness that accounts us perfect in your sight, but that we would also pray and cry out for greater sanctification, that you would help us to identify those idols in our lives that are so at times difficult to discern because we have become and grown so accustomed to the ways of the world that we do not even detect our idols. Have mercy upon us, we pray. Free us from our idols. And we pray that you would do so for the glory of your name. We pray and ask all of these things in Christ's name. Amen.