Second Commandment: Worship The True God – Part 2

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. You see, the first commandment tells us whom we're to worship. We're to worship God and God alone. Don't worship a false God. That's what the first commandment is. The second commandment is about how we're to worship the true God.

We're to make sure we're worshiping God alone and not some man-made image of God. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, humans, we are creative by nature. It's one of the many ways in which we reflect the image of our Creator.

But there is a point when our creativity can really land us in some trouble. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress warns of the dangers that lurk in letting our imaginations run wild when it comes to God's character. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I've been looking forward to this teaching series on the Ten Commandments for a long time. You see, I believe that our nation has become obsessed with personal freedoms. Our culture has thumbed its nose to self-governing rules like the Ten Commandments. People view these moral guardrails as a violation of their personal rights. And I'm convinced that this defiance against God's law is responsible for the deterioration of our nation. This rebellion has impacted our children and our children's children as well. Tragically, we're witnessing a generation that's making up their own rules.

Moral confusion is running rampant. Well, I've written a creative book for you and your family. It's called the Ten Commandments for Kids. In my new book, you can help your family understand how these basic laws are meant to bless us, not repress us. You see, as parents and grandparents, the most important thing we can do for the children in our lives is to share the gospel with them and teach them how to follow God. This brand new book for kids equips you to do that in a creative and winsome way. And a copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

As a bonus, I'm going to include a hardcover copy of my book for grown-ups as well. It's called the Ten. David and I will share more details later on, but right now, I want to speak with you about the Second Commandment. Idol worship was a major problem in ancient Israel, but idol worship hasn't disappeared. Today, I'm going to explain why idolatry is still a pervasive problem in the church. I titled today's message Worship the True God. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Exodus chapter 20.

We're in a series I'm calling the Ten. How to live and love in a world that's lost its way. We're looking at the Ten Commandments. And you remember last time we looked at the First Commandment. It's found in Exodus 20 verses 1 to 3. And then to verse 4, the Second Commandment flows naturally out of the First Commandment.

Look at it with me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water underneath the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.

But showing loving kindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Now, what is this commandment prohibiting? Is it to say we're not to have any kind of artistic representation of angels or anything in heaven on earth?

That's what it seems to say. But if that's true, then God violated his own command. Because remember, in Exodus 31, he was giving instructions about the artwork that was to be in the tabernacle and later in the temple. And he said to gifted craftsmen, you are to make artistic designs in gold and silver and in bronze and in the cutting of stones and the carving of the wood.

The tabernacle was adorned with representations of angels and palm trees. This isn't an absolute prohibition against any artwork. But I think, as one commentator said, what God is prohibiting is infusing these objects with any kind of spiritual efficacy power. What is the danger of images of God?

There are two of them. First of all, images diminish the glory of God. Images not only diminish the glory of God, the second problem is they distort the truth about God. Once you diminish God's glory, it's easy to distort the truth of God. When you reduce God to something you can handle or you can see, once you have diminished God, it's easy to distort God and make him whatever you want him to be. A great example of that is found in Romans chapter 1.

Look at verse 22. Professing to be wise, they became fools. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and then they worshiped and served the creature rather than creator who is blessed forever. They tried to reduce God to this image that they had made and then they imposed upon this new God whatever values they wanted.

And by the way, the same thing is happening today. Our society wants to diminish God, to downsize God into something manageable that we can understand and control. And then we distort the truth of the real God. I saw a great illustration of this just a few years ago in that popular movie that came out. Remember Evan Almighty? Did you all see the movie?

It's a comedy and it's an entertaining movie. It's a modern day riff on the flood story. In the movie God is portrayed, he's been reduced to Morgan Freeman, that is God. And this is what God, that is Morgan Freeman, says. He says, you know, a lot of people miss the whole point of that story.

They think it's about God's wrath and anger. I think it's a love story about believing in each other. You know, the animals showed up in pairs. They stood by each other side by side just like Noah and his family.

Everybody entered the ark side by side. Oh, isn't that a sweet story? If you don't like a God of wrath and anger and judgment, let Morgan Freeman be your God. I like a God who doesn't judge people. Why not have that kind of a God?

And you hear that all the time today. You know, whenever I imagine God, I imagine him to be a loving God, not a judgmental God. I imagine God to be somebody who allows everybody into heaven, not just one small group that trusts in Jesus. That's who I imagine God to be.

Ladies and gentlemen, God is not the sum of your speculations about him. Whenever you imagine God, you are violating the second commandment. You are creating a God in your image instead of a God that is revealed in Scripture. And that's what the problem with images of God are. It not only diminishes the glory of God, it distorts. It allows us to distort the truth about God. Why worship God only and not images of God? He gives us the reason in verse 5. He said, I'm the Lord your God and I am a jealous God. He goes on to say in Isaiah 42 verse 8, I am the Lord God and I will not give my glory to another. Now we read that negatively, say a jealous God, not sure your glory. What's wrong, God? Are you that insecure?

Are you that paranoid that you think somebody's going to take away your glory? Look, remember these commands are not for God's benefit. They're for our benefit. God has a holy jealousy. He loves us so much he doesn't want us to get distracted and deceived by false gods that can never meet our needs.

He gives us command for our reason. And he said, if you disobey it, I will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. Now some people misinterpret this verse. They believe in what is called a generational curse. They believe that there are certain sins that if your forefathers committed them that somehow you're held guilty for what your forefathers did. And there's this unbreakable generational curse that goes from generation to generation. There is only one sin that was accounted to everybody's account and that is Adam's sin. Romans 5, 12 said, for through one man, Adam's sin entered the world and death spread to all men because all sinned. We are held accountable for Adam's sin.

That is true. And if you think that's unfair, rest assured in this, you verify that and I do every hour of every day by sinning against God. We all sin because we've inherited Adam's sin. But outside of Adam, you and I are not accountable for anybody else's sin. We are accountable for our own sin.

That's what God said in Ezekiel 18, 20. The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. We are not held guilty for somebody else's sin.

So that's not what God is saying. The third and fourth generations will be held guilty if you violate the second commandment. But there are powerful influences we have on succeeding generations. A sin pattern that is developed by parents or grandparents, those habitual patterns can be learned and repeated by generation after generation. If you abuse alcohol, if you abuse drugs, if you engage in affairs and sexual immorality, your child is not automatically cursed. But they do learn that pattern and are bound to repeat it. The good news is through the power of Jesus Christ, you can break those addictions.

You can break those chains. You don't have to repeat the same sins of your parents and your grandparents. He is a jealous God, but he is also a generous God. Look at verse six, but I show loving kindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Now, you may be thinking, I have a little bit of a gift of mind reading.

I have an idea you've probably thought a few minutes ago. Well, pastor, I may be tempted to lie, to steal, to commit adultery. I may be tempted with all those things, but this is one sin I am not guilty of. I don't have to worry about this one. I've never made a graven image and bowed down to it.

So what's the application to me? How do we obey the second commandment? I want to remind you of that quote by A.W. Tozer who said, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. When you think about God, and hopefully you do, how do you make sure it's the real God you're thinking about and not the God of your imagination? How do you obey this second commandment? Let me give you three practical principles for obeying this commandment. First of all, don't diminish God through images of worship. Don't diminish God through images of worship.

Now this is the most logical application of this. Be careful about your use of images and objects in your worship. For example, the cross. We have a cross in our church, a beautiful stained glass cross.

There's nothing wrong with that. It's a reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf so that we could have the forgiveness of our sins. There's nothing wrong with the cross. You should know that Christians didn't start using the cross as a sign of worship until 400 years after Christ.

Did you know that? It's not a part of worship in the early church, but we use it today and that's fine. There are other images, but here's what the commandment is saying. Don't confuse the objects with the object of our worship, God. Some groups use actual objects as almost like good luck charms. They rub the beads or they worship the cross. Don't get the things confused.

Don't use them as a substitute for worshiping the true God. You see, the problem of these physical representations of faith or objects is they appeal to the sensual in us. Now, by sensual, I don't mean sexual. I mean they appeal to our senses, our physical senses, and our senses encourage sentimentality. And ladies and gentlemen, if you don't hear anything else I say, hear this, there is a difference between sentimentality and spirituality.

Don't confuse the two. For example, I love the movie, the old movie Old Yeller. Every time I watch Old Yeller, I get misty-eyed. I've seen that dog die a thousand times, but I get misty-eyed every time I see it because when I see it, you know what I do? I start thinking about my dog, Rebel, who died. And, you know, I tear up thinking about Rebel and so forth. That's sentimentality, it's not spirituality. When we sing the national anthem at our patriotic service, I get a lump in my throat.

I get goosebumps. That's sentimentality. Nothing wrong with that, but don't confuse that with spirituality. You see, spirituality is not about how you feel.

It's feelings that hopefully lead to actions, to obedience to God. You know, people sometimes judge worship by how they feel. Oh, how did you feel about the music today? Oh, how did you feel about the preachers? Oh, I felt this. I didn't feel like that. Hey, God doesn't care about your feelings, okay?

It's not all about these superficial feelings. It's about obedience to God. You know, there's this revival you've read about at Asbury School in Kentucky. I've seen some of the clips of it.

It looks wonderful. I don't know. Somebody asked me Thursday night at a Q&A, what do you think about that? I hadn't been there, so I can't judge it. But here's what I can judge. I judge any worship service, any revival by this standard.

In fact, you might want to write it down. You know what true worship, true revival is? You want to know how you've experienced true worship or true revival? True worship, true revival occurs when a child of God, having heard the word of God, is encouraged by the Spirit of God to obey the will of God. True spiritual experience won't be just simply measured in spiritual goosebumps. It will be measured in your obedience to God.

Let me say it again. True worship revival occurs when a child of God, having heard the word of God, is prompted by the Spirit of God to obey the will of God. The problem with images is it encourages the sensual sometimes rather than the spiritual. Don't diminish God through images of worship. Secondly, don't define God by yourself.

Don't make God look just like you do. For example, I'm very proud that I'm a citizen of this great country. I think God has blessed America. We have a patriotic service to celebrate God's blessings upon our country. But even though I'm patriotic and proud to be in America, I do know that when Jesus came to that feeding trough in Bethlehem, He didn't come wrapped in an American flag.

He came wrapped in swaddling cloths. And when we try to define God by nationality and think of God as an American, we alienate a whole segment of our entire world. God is not an American.

I have strong feelings, as you know, about certain political issues, and I vote a certain way. But I also recognize God is not a Republican. God is not a Democrat. God transcends political parties. What I'm saying is don't define God in such a way as He looks like you. He thinks like you.

He votes like you do. God is transcendent, and we need to be careful that we don't diminish Him or define Him by ourselves. And finally, don't downsize God by traditions of worship. Don't downsize God by traditions of worship. The very first church I went to pastor, I'll never forget. They had an order of service, and part of the order of service was they sang the doxology right before they took the offering.

Well, a little innocent me. I decided after a few weeks that I would change the doxology and put it at the end of the service. There was an explosion. You would have thought I had denied the virgin birth of Jesus Christ by moving the doxology.

They just went ballistic. And there's some people that say, well, you can't worship if the doxology's there. It has to be here in order to worship God. There are other churches that think God's Word can only be heard from behind a wooden pulpit. If it's plexiglass, God's Word cannot transcend a plexiglass pulpit. It has to be. Now, you think I'm kidding.

I am not kidding. There are churches that have split over whether the pulpit ought to be wood or plexiglass. Some people in traditions of worship, they are absolutely sure that God cannot be worshiped by music that has been written after 1970. If it was written after 1970, it doesn't honor God. There are other people who think God can't be worshiped if it was written before 1970. There's nothing in the 1800s or 1900s that can be worshipful. There are some people that think God can only be worshiped through a choir and orchestra. There are others who think he can only be worshiped through a praise band. Don't reduce God by your traditions of worship. That's what the second commandment of Exodus 20 is. Don't diminish him. Don't define him.

Don't downsize him. We're faster than what is through worship. Do you remember in John chapter 4, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. He was talking to her about her eternal soul.

He began to probe a little too closely to the heart of the matter about her own morality and her marriage situation. She tried to distract Jesus with a theological question. She said, you know, Jesus, our fathers, the Samaritans, said that the right mountain to worship on is Mount Gerizim, and you say that the right place to worship is on this mountain.

Which mountain is the correct mountain to worship on? Do you remember what Jesus said? Here's the Jeffress paraphrase, lady, the hour is coming.

In fact, it's already here when that doesn't make any difference at all. And then he went on to say, for God is what? Spirit. And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's how we're to worship. We're to worship God in spirit. God can't be defined by a location or a tradition or an image.

God is a spirit. Worship him as a transcendent spirit, and then worship him based on truth. Make sure when you worship. The God you're worshiping is the God of the Bible, the true God, not the God of your imagination. For Jesus said, those kind of worshipers, the father is actively seeking.

Our imaginative speculations can only take away from God's glory, but God, the one true God described in the Bible is deserving of our praise. There's so much more I want to show you about the 10 Commandments from God, including the one we talked about today. We're just getting started. And if you missed any portion of this new study, or you want to hear the entire series again, David's going to explain how to receive the entire teaching series, the full unabridged version on both CD and DVD. Plus I'm very pleased to send you my brand new book for children on this relevant topic. It's called the 10 Commandments for Kids. Our culture has taken a dim view of the 10 Commandments. Our public classrooms have been stripped of their influence. And where is that Godness? I mean, look at the headlines, gender confusion, drug overdoses, and more and more suicides.

It's terrible what is happening. I'm fully convinced that a return to the 10 Commandments of God would set our nation back on track. Following these civil rules would certainly enhance our safety and even our happiness. And I'd love to send you a copy of my new book for children to your home. Again, it's called the 10 Commandments for Kids, and it's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Plus it will arrive with my bestselling book that has been written for you. It's called the 10, How to Live and Love in a World That Has Lost Its Way. Thanks for giving generously to Pathway to Victory. Because of your partnership, we are bringing light and life into the dark places of our world. And we're doing so by elevating the truth of God's Word and even the timeless wisdom of His 10 Commandments.

David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new illustrated children's book, The 10 Commandments for Kids. You'll also receive the original bestselling book by Dr. Jeffress called The 10, How to Live and Love in a World That Has Lost Its Way. Call 866-999-2965 or visit our website, ptv.org. Now when your gift is $125 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the 10 teaching series.

Plus we'll send you a study guide to use on your own or maybe with a small group. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. Now you could also write to us if you'd like, PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. When you hear somebody say, do not take the Lord's name in vain, what comes to mind?

Are Christians simply banned from certain forms of profanity or is there more at stake? Join us for a message on the Third Commandment that's Wednesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Picture yourself relaxing aboard a luxury cruise ship as you sail the Mediterranean Sea on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. This 11-day journey will take you to unforgettable destinations in Italy, Turkey, and Greece. Plus you'll have the option to extend your trip with additional adventures in Rome. To book your spot on the 2025 Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise, go to ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

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