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We are continuing our series on the Ten Commandments, we're up to commandment number two. And I'm going to quickly read to you commandment number two, you don't just stay there in Psalm 115, but in Exodus chapter 20 is where we find the Ten Commandments. And Exodus chapter 20 verse 4 says, Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. And so God's making it very clear not to make any graven images, not to make any statues, any idols, that could be potentially put to the use of worship. And so the title for the sermon tonight is, Graven Images, Statues, and Idolatry. Graven Images, Statues, and Idolatry. Now the commandment continues there in Exodus 20 in verse number 5, it says, 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. What do we learn there? What do we learn in the Second Commandment there in Exodus chapter 20? There are two things. You know, some people say, well, you know, we shouldn't make things as long as we don't worship it, as long as we don't bow down to it. But actually, there are two parts that make up that commandment. The first part is, thou shalt not make unto any graven image, okay? 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, okay? So this is what, you know, basically God says, don't make any graven images of such things, and then it goes on in verse number 5 to say, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, okay? So of course, the bowing has to do with worship, with giving reverence unto those graven images. So you've got those two parts there, the creation, but also the worship. And then God says, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. So if we create statues, you know, trying to maybe picture some heavenly truth, you know, some images, trying to picture Jesus Christ and the heavenly realm, God says, I'm going to become jealous about this. What does jealous mean? Is jealous a negative attribute? No, it's a positive one. God says that jealous is his name, his name is jealous, okay? And basically God is saying he's jealous because when you're jealous about something, it's something that rightly belongs to you. You know, I'd be jealous if my wife is spending time, you know, with some other man. I mean, why? Because she rightly belongs to me, right? And if I go and spend time with some other woman, then my wife has the right to be jealous of me as well because I belong to my wife. Well, when it comes to God's people, when it comes to our praise and worship, all of it needs to go to the Lord God, okay? And if you create graven images, you bow down to them, it's not going to the Lord God. I don't care if you call that image Jesus. I don't care if you call that image God, okay? If you're bowing yourself to it, God says, I'm a jealous God. He's not receiving the worship. He's not receiving the praise. You're giving your worship and praise to some other being, okay? Not only that, then he says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. So what is God saying? If you create these statues, you bow down to these idols, these graven images, that proves you hate me. When you think about which church, what church do they have or religious institutions have a whole bunch of idols and graven images? Can anyone name them? What would they be? Yeah, I immediately go to the Catholic Church, yeah, number one. What else? Orthodox Church, number two. And these guys claim to be Christian churches. They claim to love God. God says, no, you hate me. And I'm going to visit that iniquity upon, what did he say? Upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. For people that are worshiping idols in a Catholic or Orthodox Church, you're having bad consequences of your sins that's going to affect your future generations, your children and your future generations. So hopefully those children, they break out of that system and they realise, no, God's word says not to bow down and worship these evil things. Hopefully they say, look, I don't hate God. I love God. Well, if you love God, get rid of those idols. Get rid of those statues. God is saying, if you have them, you hate me. If you bow down to them, you hate me. Who else has idols and statues? Hinduism? Buddhist. Buddhist, they've got their Buddhist little statues and their little lucky charms. I mean, pretty much every other religion pretty much has some element of statues, graven images. God does not want to be worshipped in this way at all. He does not want anybody, you know, setting up these idols, these gods, these false gods and bowing themselves to it. And look, if you've grown up in a Catholic family, an Orthodox family and your parents have bowed down to statues and you say, look, I don't want to have the consequences of these sins upon my life, we continue to say in verse number six, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. So if you say, you know what, I came from a family that was a Catholic family, an Orthodox family, I came out of Hinduism, I came out of Buddhism, and I don't want to have these consequences of the sins of my forefathers upon me. Well, just love God. Keep his commandments. God says showing mercy unto thousands of them. We need God's mercy, amen? We're going to break out of this cycle of the consequences of sins of former generations. Go to the Lord, love the Lord God, don't love the statues, do his will, keep his commandments, all right? And God will have mercy upon you. Now, the reading was from Psalm 115. So let's go back to Psalm 115, verse number one. Psalm 115, verse one. People might say, well, it's just a harmless picture. It's just a harmless icon. It's just a harmless image. Surely it's not that bad. Surely God would not really be that upset with me. Surely God would not think that I hate him. When we look at Psalm 115, let's start there in verse number one. It says, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Now, notice verse number two. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? You know what? You come into this church building, we don't have any images of Jesus here. We don't have any images of the saints and of, you know, the Roman Catholic Mary. We don't have any, you know, I don't know, icons and whatever it is, graven arcs on this wall depicting a God that we worship. You know, the heathen would look at a church like ours and ask that question, you know, where is now their God? Where is their God? Why would they ask such a question? Because they're so used to our gods being a piece of wood, a piece of gold, a piece of metal. And they think, well, these are our gods. These picture our gods. And where's the church? So where's the God of blessing our Baptist Church? You know, well, what's the answer to it? The answer is in the next verse, number three. But our God is in the heavens. He have done whatsoever he have pleased. That's where our God is. We don't need a little piece of wood up here. We don't need something that looks like maybe some divine bean. You know, I'd say, well, this is our God here. No, our God's in the heavens. You know, God has created all things. He have done whatsoever he have pleased. God's doing whatever he wants. Okay? Our God is a great God. He cannot be limited by some statue, by some image, or by some icon. Okay? Now let's keep going, verse number four. Now we're responding to their question about their gods. We say their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. Hey, our God's not the work of men's hands. Our God's in the heavens. We could not create a bean that's in the heaven. Okay? They have mouths, but they speak not. Okay? So yeah, okay, you create a little mouth in the picture, in the, you know, the statue. They can't speak. What's the point of the mouth? Okay? Eyes they have and they see not. They don't know anything, those pieces of wood, they don't know anything that's going on. Verse number six, they have ears, but they hear not. So what's the point? What's the point of making all these images? They can't hear you. They can't hear your prayers. Isn't that what Roman Catholics do? They pray to their saints. They pray to, you know, Mary and, you know, they look at their statues and they look at their images. It doesn't hear you. They're not going to answer your prayers. Okay? Noders have they, but they smell not. So you have the incense and the smell of the incense. The statues can't smell it. Okay? Verse number seven, they have hands, but they handle not. They can't do anything for you. They can't answer your prayers. Feet have they, but they walk not. They don't go anywhere. They have to be carried. Isn't that what happens in these churches? They carry them, you know, through a procession. They can't walk. Neither speak they through their throats. And then it says in verse number eight, they that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. So what is it saying? It's saying the idol is a stupid thing. It can't hear. It can't see. It can't talk. It can't smell. It can't do anything with its hands. It can't walk. It's such a stupid thing. It's pointless. It has no purpose. And he goes, those that make them, what does it say? Are like unto them. So you want to go and make these things and worship them and serve them, then you become stupid like the idol. You can't see with your spiritual eyes. You're not going to be able to hear spiritual truths. You're not going to be able to do any great works for God. You're not going to be able to walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. If you set up these idols, you become like unto them. So this is the danger of worshiping idols. Yeah, okay. They're pointless. They're stupid. They've got no power. They've got no control. But if you set these things up and you think of them as your gods, then you'll become as stupid as them. This is why these churches, these religious institutions, they don't have the truth, okay? Because they've become spiritually blind. They've become spiritually deaf. They cannot hear the words of God because they'd rather have their gods of stupidity. They can't hear. They can't see. They can't answer prayers. Those are the gods they want, then that's what they're going to become, okay? Now our God is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are commanded to walk in his steps. We are commanded to be more like Christ, to be holy. You know, God says, be holy for I am holy. You know, one of the advantages that we have is that as we mature, as we know more of God's Word, the Bible, the Holy Spirit works in our life, we can be more like unto our Lord God, okay? We can get better and better and better as we serve and worship the God of the Bible. These guys, these idol worshipers, they get worse and worse and worse and more stupid as they go on, okay? So there's a big difference between, you know, worshiping the Lord God of the Bible and worshiping these statues and images and icons. Can you please go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10? 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 19. 1 Corinthians 10, 19. Please, 1 Corinthians 10, 19. Because even though the idol is stupid, even though the idol can do nothing in of itself, because it's just an object, okay? It's still harmful. It's still very dangerous. Not just the people that make them and worship them, but there is a spiritual element with these statues, okay? With these idols, with these graven images. 1 Corinthians 10, 19. It says, What say I then? Is the idol anything? Or that which is offered in sacrifice to idol, is it anything? Is it anything? Verse number 20. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. So you have these, and I'm sure many Roman Catholics, many Orthodox, and if there's anyone listening tonight that's from these churches, I know, yes, there must be some sincerity in you. There must be some element that you want to do that, which is right, okay? But you need to understand when you sacrifice to these idols, when you worship these idols, it's not going to God. It's being received by devils. The idol itself is not the devil, but there is a devil attached to the worship that you give to those idols, okay? You think you love God, you know, you're trying to do the best, I'm sure you are, you know, maybe you're ignorant, this is just the family you grew up in, this is the culture you've grown up in, but you're worshiping devils. You're serving devils and you're not serving God. You want to serve God? Get rid of those idols, turn to Jesus Christ, call upon the name of the Lord to save you, believe in him that his sacrifice is all that's needed without the works of the law, without any church, just your faith on the finished work of Jesus Christ, he'll save you and you go and worship God, and you'll become more godly. Your worship, your praise, your sincerity for a God will be actually given to the God, the creator who made you. So much better than giving it to these idols that actually get given to devils, okay? What did it say here that we should have no fellowship with devils? Verse number 21, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils, you cannot be partaker of the Lord's table and the table of devils. Now let me encourage you that if you've grown up in one of these families that worship, you know, that have idols and images, you know, I know you get attached to these things. My wife was a former Roman Catholic when I met her, you know, eventually I got able to give her the gospel, she believed on Jesus Christ and, you know, her initial response was to get rid of her idols, get rid of her statues. She got rid of all of them, except one image of Jesus Christ. There was just this one attachment to this image of Jesus Christ. There is an emotional attachment to these things, okay? I understand, okay? But what does God want from you? He wants you to have no fellowship with devils. You know what? You find one in your house, burn it. Get rid of it. Don't give it to a friend. Don't give it to a family. You're not helping them. You're just helping them worship devils if you do that. Just destroy that stupid thing. It can't speak, it can't hear. It's not going to get offended at you, okay? God's going to be pleased and then God can receive your full worship and praise toward him. So, you know, yes these idols are nothing, they're stupid, but don't forget, devils attach themselves to the worship of these things. Please turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Let's have a look at the beginning steps into idolatry. Why do people do this? Why do people just desire to make something that resembles some type of God figure and worshipper? Where does it come from? When it comes to Romans chapter 1, this church, of course, you know, this is a famous chapter for a church like ours, because we know that this chapter basically explains the road, the process into having a reprobate mind. How someone becomes reprobate in the eyes of God. You know, how is it that someone gets to the point where they reject God and then God rejects them and they've lost their opportunity to be saved? Well, before they get to the reprobate mind, you'll notice that they started down that downward spiral of not worshiping God in the proper sense. Because it says here in Romans 1.19, Romans chapter 1, verse number 19, it reads, ...from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Brethren, we all believe in God. There is no such thing as an atheist. I know they call themselves atheists. I know they claim to not believe in God. They believe in God. They know God exists. They know that one day they're going to stand before God. They just hate God. Okay, they don't want to retain God in their knowledge. All right, we all know that God exists. We are without excuse. We look at the world. We look at the heavens. We look at God's creation and we say, well, look at this amazing creation. There must be a creator. Okay, there must be a creator. It is without excuse. It is, everybody knows. Okay, when someone says, I don't believe in God, they say it to you, they're just lying to you. Okay, they're just lying. People say to me, you know, I don't believe in God. I say, yes, you do. The Bible says you do believe in God. No, I don't believe in God. Well, God doesn't believe in atheists. Okay, God does not believe in atheists. But let's keep going, verse number 21. Look at this. Because that when they knew God, they know God. Okay, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. You know, if you're just educated and you just get the wisdom, you become smarter, they think that you're just going to stop believing in God. You know, they think you go to university and, you know, you will just stop believing in God. Yeah, because universities are created, you know, the professors there, you know, have an agenda to make you lose faith in God. Okay, that's the purpose of it. But those that become wise in their own vain imaginations, the wisdom of the world, of course, they're going to become, they're going to think they're puffed up, they're going to think they're greater than God, they're going to think they know more than God. But the Bible says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. You know, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. But let's keep going in verse number 23, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image. Okay, what was the title? Gravient images. Okay, statues and idolatry. So they changed God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So why is it that people would think of God as an image of birds, beasts, animals, creeping things? Why would people do this? Why would, you know, the atheists, they would say, well, not the atheists, the people say to you, I'm spiritual. In other words, God is everywhere. God is everything. I'm God, you're God, the bird is God, the grass is God, the trees are God. Okay, they've got that nature because they've become stupid. They've become wise in their imaginations and they change the image of an incorruptible God into something that is corruptible. Okay, and that's what the idolatry does. They take the uncorruptible God and they put it into a corruptible image. Okay, a corruptible idol. Something that they can bow down and worship and they think they know more than God. Even though God says, I'm in the heavens. You know, our God says, He's the invisible God. So no, no, I can make invisible. I can show you. I can create a statue and show you the God that we worship and no, they're vain in their imaginations. And so those are the beginning steps of idolatry. You know, refusing to acknowledge God for who He is. They don't like the idea of an invisible God that they cannot see. They want Him to be corruptible. They want Him to be as His creation. Okay, and then we know the downward spiral. Eventually, you're going to reject God for who He is. It can get pretty bad from there. Okay, but we're not going into that topic right now. All right, can you please turn? Where can I get you to turn? Turn to Leviticus 19, please. Turn to Leviticus chapter 19. I've got a few verses here. I won't get you to turn to all of them. But in preparation for this sermon, you know, I went to catholic.com because as you guys said, the first church we often think about when it comes to idols is the Roman Catholic Church. I thought, okay, let's go to catholic.com, the official website for the Catholic Church. And they've got an article there about, you know, statues and idols, etc. How do they respond to such a clear command not to make a graven image and to bow themselves to them? Look, I've been to a Catholic Church. I've seen those idols and I've seen people bow down to those idols. Okay, we all know it happens. We all know people bow down from these churches to these images and to these idols. And so, you know, we've got a clear commandment, you know, the Ten Commandments, the second of the Ten Commandments makes it very clear not to create these things, not to bow yourselves to them, not to serve these things. So what do they say? And I'm not going to read the whole article to you, but I'm going to just take parts of it and then we'll just compare it to the scriptures, okay? So the first reason, the first thing they say here, why do they make statues? Why do they make graven images, etc.? They say because God said to make them. That's the answer. God said to make them, okay? Let me read a little bit what it says. In the article, he reads, people who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages, many passages, where the Lord commands the making of statues. Now, look, I've read my Bible cover to cover many times. I'm sure many of you have, okay? Now, apparently, according to Catholic.com, there are many passages that God says create statues. I can't even think of many. I can't think of any, actually. But, well, I mean, there is a couple that they tend to turn to, okay? But we'll have a look at this. For example, so here's the example. And you shall make two cherubim of gold, two gold statues of angels. Of hammered work shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seats, okay? So we know the mercy seat was on top of the Ark of the Covenant and this was an important component of the Tabernacle and the Old Testament temple, of course. And they'll say, see, God said to make these two gold cherubims on the mercy seat. And God did say to make those things, okay? Now, that's one example they use and there are some of the places where God does instruct them to make cherubim. Cherubims are basically angels, if you don't know, okay? And for the decoration in God's house, when it comes to the temple worship and sacrifice and things like that, there is that element and then there is one other part that they use. But that's what they've got. Basically, they're saying, look, there's many passages but the only ones they've got is about the cherubims and something else that we'll soon look at later on, okay? Well, what about Leviticus 19 verse 4? Are you there? Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 verse 4. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. Go to Leviticus 26 verse 1. Leviticus 26 and verse number 1. It says, ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, so that's a statue, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your God. So God is saying, those aren't your gods. I am the Lord your God. Look, you know, I was trying to do some research on many passages where God speaks about statues and idols and graven images. And by far, we're talking about maybe even into the hundreds. God says, don't create these stupid things. And Catholic.com says, no, there are many passages where God says to do it. Who's lying to you? I'll just keep going to some passages. I'm not going to turn to all of them. Can you please go to 1 Kings 15? Go to 1 Kings 15 for me. I'm going to read to you from Deuteronomy 29 16, which reads, for ye know how ye have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye passed by, and ye have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them. God says these idols, you know, these idols, these images, God says, they're abominations. Egypt had abominations. And that was statues. But where are these many passages where God says to create statues and idols? You're in 1 Kings 15. 1 Kings 15 verse 11. 1 Kings 15 verse 11. I'm sure this is one of the favourite passages of many of us in the church. 1 Kings 15 and 11. It says, And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Hey, what was right in the eyes of the Lord? As did David his father. What was right that he did? Verse number 12. And he took away the sodomites out of the land. Amen. Okay, the wicked filthy homosexuals. He got them out of the land. That was right in the eyes of God. What else did he do? And removed all the idols that his fathers had made. He got rid of the idols. He got rid of the sodomites. And I think we're all in agreement that filthy, disgusting abomination and the idols, by the way, which are filthy, disgusting abominations to God as well. Okay, and he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Notice what he says there, And removed all the idols that his fathers had made. And again, you know, many have come out of the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church. And you know your fathers, your forefathers, have worshipped these things. And it's hard to get rid of them because you think of it as a family. It's a family heirloom. They've passed it down to me. You know, they love these things and now I'm just going to get rid of them. Yeah, if you want to do that which is right in the eyes of God, that's what you do. You get rid of them. And you get rid of the sodomites as well. Get rid of the sodomites. Get rid of the idols in your family. Alright, have nothing to do with either of those things. Just some other passages. Can you go to Revelation 9? Go to Revelation chapter 9. Psalm 97 verse 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven images and boast themselves of idols. Worship him, all ye gods. It's just confounded, confused. Be all they that serve graven images. People that serve graven images, bear down to idols, they become confounded, they become confused. As I said, they become stupid like the idols that they worship. I'm going to read to you. Those were Old Testament passages. I mean, these instructions, you know, I just pulled out just random ones. They're just found throughout the whole Bible. You know, 1 Corinthians 10, 14, if you want something in the New Testament. Okay, 1 Corinthians 10, 14. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from idolatry. 1 John 5, 21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. And Revelation 9, 20. Have a look at this. Revelation 9, 20. We know this is about the end times. We know this is the time when Christ is pouring out his wrath on this wicked world. And it says in Revelation 9, 20. And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. So Jesus Christ is pouring out his wrath on the world, the trumpets and the viral judgments, and these people on the earth. They just can't stop worshiping their idols. And what does it say then in Revelation? They're worshiping devils. And once again, it confirms that by worshiping idols, you're actually giving your worship to devils, okay? Idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and of wood, okay? It doesn't matter what you make it out of. If you worship that thing, the worship has been received by a devil, okay? So notice from the Old Testament to the New Testament to even future times to come, people are struggling with idols, okay? And, you know, when I moved to the Sunshine Coast, I think I said to many of you, I thought everybody was Buddhist. Like, because I'd go into someone's house, door to door, soul window, and see these Buddhist statues everywhere, you know? And I thought, man, I'm definitely gonna talk to a Buddhist, but I barely talk to Buddhists up there. They just got them as decorations now, you know? Like idolatry has become so popular, so common, so natural, that let's just set up idols now in our gardens, you know? Let's just have the Buddha. Instead of the garden gnomes, now they set up the Buddhist statues in the gardens, you know? You know, this is not a Christian nation anymore. I don't know how, you know, was it ever really a Christian nation? Probably not, but you know what? It's definitely not a Christian nation anymore, okay? So look, we've gone through, we've gone, I could go through many, many, many, many passages. God's constantly telling us, don't build these things. Don't make these things. Don't worship these things. Worshiping these things is worship to devils, okay? So the idea that catholic.com says, well, there are many passages. It's not true, number one, okay? Secondly, yeah, okay, there are these cherubims that God says to create. And what is this? Well, this would be an exception to the rule. That's all it is, okay? It's an exception to the rule, okay? God asked them to create these cherubims, these angels when it comes to the worship, okay? Because once again, the tabernacle, the temple, this pictured the temple, the tabernacle that's in heaven. We know that Christ took his blood and poured it, sorry, sprinkled it upon the mercy seat in heaven. And of course, in heaven, there are the angels that worship in God. And so yeah, these were things that were picturing what was taking place in heaven. God gives an exemption to the rule in this place. Now, if the Catholics really wanted to use this as their reason why they, you know, make statues and idols and worship them, then where are all the cherubims? You know, why do they all walk around with little Ark of the Covenants and the mercy seat and the cherubims on there? Rather, it's Mary, it's a Jesus that we don't know with long hair and blue eyes, you know? It's all the saints that nobody knows what they look like. You know, they're not making little mercy seats with cherubims on it. Like if they're going to use that as their evidence, they're not even practicing what they claim gives them permission to create idols. So, you know, what kind of excuses is that? Number one, it's an exception and they're not even following their own rules where they think God's given them permission to make idols. The other one they use, I'm going to keep going in the article, they talk about the religious uses of images. It says, during a plague of serpents, you guys know where I'm going probably now, sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to make a statue of a fiery serpent and to set it on a pole. And everyone who is bitten and he sees it shall live, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. So they're using the example there of the bronze serpent that Moses created on the instruction of God, by the way. Let me keep going. The article says, one had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows the statues so which shows that statues, I can't even read ungodly literature. I can't even read these articles, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations. So we can use these things in our rituals, you know, they're saying. Once again, this is an exception to the rule, okay? An exception, God's asked them to do this thing, okay? And again, if the Catholics are going to use this, where are all their bronze serpents? You know, when I met my wife, they had all the statues, they had all the images going on. I don't recall ever seeing that bronze serpent. I don't ever recall seeing a mercy with cherubim, right? And these are the verses they claim that God's given them permission. Oh, the bronze serpent, okay? In fact, please go to 2 Kings 18. Turn to 2 Kings 18. Hey, the bronze serpent that people would look at was a type of Jesus Christ, was to picture Christ and that Christ would be lifted up upon the cross and those that look upon him in faith will also be saved, will also be delivered from the poison, the venom of the serpent. Of course, that venom representing sin, the serpent representing the devil. The Bible says that Christ became sin for us and so that serpent on the pole represented the fact that Christ was going to become sin for us, take our sins from us and put upon his own body. But 2 Kings 18, please, 2 Kings 18, verse number 1. Let's talk about the bronze serpent. 2 Kings 18, verse number 1. Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was also Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. Look at this, verse number 3. I wonder what he did that which was right. Maybe he's like a Catholic and he starts building statues, like the bronze serpent. Maybe that's what he starts to do, right? That he's right in the eyes of God. Well, let's have a look. Let's read the Bible. Verse number 4. Hey, he didn't make images. He broke the images and cut down the groves. But look at this. What? Hey, Moses made this bronze serpent. This king comes in and he breaks a thing. Why does he break it? Because it says here, So what happened? Instead of it being a type, a picture, a shadow of Jesus Christ, people took that bronze serpent and say, hey, let's worship it. Let's burn incense toward this bronze serpent because our forefather Moses created this. Do you see the danger of having things that are created? Even though God told Moses to make this, do you see the danger? People somehow have this emotional, religious attachment to images and statues, you know. And they can't help at some point when they're far from God and they say, well, this must be God. This bronze serpent must be God. Let's burn incense to it. It can't even smell. It can't even hear. I can't even see. It's not receiving any worship. That worship to the bronze serpent was given to a devil. Again, what did it say? He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. The Lord said to make it and then he destroys it and God says, hey, you did right. You did right. Because the worship given to that bronze serpent was not going to God. It was once again going to some devil. Okay. And if we keep going there in verse number four, and he caught it, Nehushtan, Nehushtan. I looked it up. Let's go back to the Hebrew here. Nehushtan is basically, it means a thing made from brass. A thing made from brass. So you got, you know, wicked Jews worshiping this image and King Ahaz takes it and says, look, this is just a thing of brass. This is not a god. This is not a deity. This is not the Lord God of Israel. It's just a thing of brass and he goes and breaks the stupid thing. Praise God for a king like that that does right in the eyes of the Lord. Okay. So no, this is not permission. God's not given the Catholics permission to build idols because of the bronze serpent. What would they, if they want to do that which is right, take your statues and break the stupid thing. Okay. Break it. Get rid of it. Verse number five. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. In other words, that bronze serpent was not the Lord God of Israel. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor any that were before him. Boy, you want to be known as someone that there's no one else in this family like this, you know, this person that loves the Lord, that wants to do right in the eyes of the Lord. Well, take the statues, take the images that's in your household and destroy it. And God will look down and be pleased with you. That's what the Bible says. Now what else? Can you please go to Exodus chapter 20? Go to Exodus chapter 20. The Catholics went, you know, Catholic.com, the article continues saying, what about bowing? Say, because you know, the Catholics, they bow down to these things. They say, though bowing, how do they explain the fact that they bow themselves and basically worship these idols? You know, I've seen Roman Catholics kiss the feet of idols. It's not just bowing down, they're kissing the feet of these pieces of wood, okay, which can't even walk. Anyway, though bowing, the article says, can be used as a posture in worship, not all bowing is worship. So, they're saying that when we bow, we're not really worshiping the idols. Now, this is what they use to explain what they're doing. In Japan, in Japan, like, immediately, what? What does Japan have to do with this? In Japan, people show respect by bowing in greeting, the equivalent of the Western handshake. So, because, you know, Japanese bow when they meet each other, you know, then that gives us, that's basically explaining what we're doing when we're going to an idol and we're bowing ourselves to it. Well, number one, they're bowing themselves to a human being. They're given their honor and respect and their greeting to a human being, okay, and not some stupid piece of wood that has worship attached to a devil. You know, they bow and they worship these things, okay. There's no doubt in anyone's mind, I guarantee you speak to your average Roman Catholic and when they bow themselves to these idols, they will acknowledge we're worshiping. They'll say we're worshiping God, but they know it's a sign of worship. But catholic.com, they wouldn't lie to us. Oh, we're just like the Japanese. It's so stupid, right? Again, look at Exodus 20, verse number five. Not only make these things, it says, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. The Bible cannot be any clearer, okay. It's not just making these things, but it's also bowing these things. Don't bow yourself unto these things. Obviously, the Roman Catholic Church is, it's so wrong on so many levels. I mean, I feel like you could just take any commandment in the Bible, like any law of God, and they'll do the exact opposite. You know, the bishop must be the husband of one wife. The Catholics read that, oh, the bishop must not be married. You know, don't bow yourself to idols. The Catholic reads, oh, let's bow ourselves to idols. You know, it's just everything they do is the complete opposite to what the Bible says, you know. Anyway, the next thing they say, you'll say they're in Exodus 20. They say, hide in the second commandment. You see, Protestants, Baptists, we all know they're hiding this commandment. This is commandment number two, not to create graven images or bow yourself to them. The Catholics do hide this because they know it is so obvious, it is so obvious, they remove it out of the 10 commandments. I don't know if you know that. The Roman Catholic 10 commandments are not the 10 commandments of the Bible. They change it, they alter it, okay. And they're trying to address it in this article, hide in the second commandment. They say in the article, another charge sometimes made by Protestants is that the Catholic Church hides the second commandment. It's not, it's true. They hide it, okay. This is because of Catholic catechisms, can't even say that, catechisms. The first commandment is often listed as, you shall not have, you shall have no other gods before me. Yes, that's the first. And the second, this is the second commandment of the Roman Catholic Church. And the second is listed as, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. So they make that number two, taking the Lord's name in vain, they make that commandment number two. They completely bypass the creating of statues and worshiping them, okay. And actually, you know, not taking the Lord's name in vain is commandment number three, all right. Now let me just show you what they do here, okay. So you're there in Exodus, go to Exodus chapter 20 verse number 17, drop down to verse number 17. We're going to look at the last commandment, commandment number 10. And let's have a look at what they do to make 10 out of their commandments that they hide. Okay, one of them which they hide, which is the statues, okay. So Exodus 20 17, it says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservants, nor his maidservants, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Okay, that's verse number 17. So we often just summarize it as, thou shalt not covet, because we're just in general covetousness, okay. It is wrong, we know, thou shalt not covet. Well this is commandment number 10 in your Bibles. What do the Roman Catholics do? Well they take commandment number 10 and they basically break it into two and create commandment number 9 and number 10. Because they've got to, they've hidden the second one, they've got to come up with another one to make the 10. So what they do, let's read it again, Exodus 20 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. They'll say, that's commandment number 9. And then they'll say, nor his manservant, now we're up to 10. Nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. So they take one commandment, they break it into two, even though it's the one verse, even though the sentence has not finished, and say well now it's a new commandment, okay. And they'll say, number 9 is thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, and they say number 10 is thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. And in the article they basically say, well we just number it differently to the Protestant church. Well then let me just number it differently then. Exodus chapter 20 verse 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. And let's make that commandment number 10, okay. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, let's make that commandment number 11. Nor his manservant, let's make that 12. Nor his maidservant, 13. Nor his ox, 14. We're up to 14, what are we up to? I don't know anymore. Nor his axe, ass, 15. Nor anything that is thy neighbor's, 16. Let's make 16 commandments then. That's stupid. How stupid are these Roman Catholics? You know, if a Roman Catholic's listening to me today, I love you. You know what, the reason I'm preaching like this is because I don't want you to worship devils. I want you to worship the true God of the Bible. Okay, I love the Roman Catholic. I met my wife, she was a Roman Catholic. Okay, if I didn't love her, I would not have given her the gospel, okay. Obviously we want these people to get right. You've been deceived by your priests, you've been deceived by the popes of the past, okay. You know, you're just following family tradition. You were born a Catholic and maybe you're thinking, I'm going to die a Catholic. Yeah, if you die a Catholic, you're going to die and go to hell. Okay, for worshiping these devils and not believing on the true son of God, Jesus Christ, okay. So my desire for the Catholic that's listening here is like, get rid of the idols, worship the one true God, you know, believe on Jesus Christ, accept his death and resurrection, accept his sacrifice as your only means for salvation, without works, without the Roman Catholic Church, without religion, okay, trust Jesus Christ, call upon him for salvation, be saved and make sure that your worship goes toward the Lord God. That's what I want. I love Roman Catholics. I realize they're deceived, okay. I'm not having a go at them necessarily, but rather at their religion, at their false religion, at their reprobate priests that are full of homosexuals and pedophiles. They're the people that I hate, okay. They're the people that God hates. We need to get rid of these sodomites out of the land and the idols, okay. So I'm not against your, you know, run-of-your-mill everyday Roman Catholic, but you've been deceived by these bishops that aren't even married. The Bible says these bishops must be the husband of one wife. This is why they're full of perverts, these, you know, religious institutions, full of perverts, full of reprobates, full of pedophiles, full of homosexuals, because they're not following the Lord God. They worship devils. They literally worship devils, okay. Let's keep going in this article, Catholic.com. Now this is the one that really just made my blood boil as I was reading this. It says, but more important, in the incarnation of Christ, his son, God showed mankind an icon of himself. Think about that. You know what icon they mean, a statue, an image, okay. Basically a piece of wood, okay. God showed mankind an image of himself. Paul said, he is the image. Actually, let's turn there. Let's go to Colossians 1. Turn to Colossians chapter 1, please. Verse number 15. Colossians 1, 15. And I'll just read it from the article first. Paul said, he is the image or the icon of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. The article continues by saying, Christ is the tangible, divine icon of the unseen, infinite God. What are they saying? Because they acknowledge these pieces of wood, these pieces of gold and silver. They say, these are icons. They say, well, Jesus Christ is just another icon. Jesus Christ is just another piece of wood, just another piece of gold and silver. Because here's the thing, the average Roman Catholic, they recognize that those images, those statues, those icons, they acknowledge that this is not really God, but it helps them worship God, whatever they claim. Then what are you saying about Jesus, if it's just another icon? If it's just another icon, then you're saying he's not really God. He's just a picture. He's just a piece of statue. He's just a piece of gold, a gold of the real God. I mean, how blasphemous is that, brethren? How blasphemous is that? Let's have a look at Colossians 1, 15. The Bible does say, who is the image, yeah, the word image is there, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Does this just mean he's just a picture? Does this just mean that Jesus Christ is a piece of statue? Just an icon, just an image? No, because verse 16 says, for by him, for by Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. Jesus Christ is not an icon, he's God. He's fully God. It's Roman Catholics stupidity, trying to make Jesus just an icon, just trying to justify their worship of statues and images and the stupid idolatry of the Church, blaspheming Christ. These are the best arguments that the Roman Catholics have. This is on their official website, catholic.com. And where does it lead? Their justification to worship others, where does it lead, brethren? To blaspheme Jesus Christ. He's just an icon. He's just an image, just another statue, you know, just another justification for us to have our own statues and images. In the article, it continues by saying, common sense tells us that since God has revealed himself in various images, look at this, because God has revealed himself in various images, most especially in the incarnate Jesus Christ, it's not wrong for us to use images of these forms to deepen our knowledge and love of God. No, God says, you hate me. You have these statues, you hate God, you hate the God of the Bible. Colossians 2, 9, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead. Jesus Christ is fully God, not just an icon, not just an image. He's the image of the Father. You know, yet to know the Father more, we know Christ more. The more we know Christ, the more we know the Father. Definitely, okay? To know the attributes of the Father is to more know the attributes of Jesus Christ. Okay? You know, people say, Hey, you know, Les says to me, you know, Jonathan, he looks just like you. You know? I guess the more you see me, the more you see within Jonathan, or you look at Jonathan, the more you see me. Yeah, you know, Jonathan might very well be the closest image to me that there is, okay? But that doesn't just mean, that doesn't make Jonathan an icon of me, like a statue of me. He's got, no, he's his own person, is what he is. Okay? He's not just a piece of wood or something. These Roman Catholics, honestly, they just, they haven't got it. They haven't got it together. And they'll say, Well, you know, all right, yeah, we acknowledge that these statues, these images, it's not really God. You know, but we just, it just helps us worship the one real God. You know, it just gives us a visual, tangible aid to worship the God of the Bible. Turn to Exodus chapter 32, please. Turn to Exodus 32. Exodus 32, verse number 4. Exodus 32, verse number 4. We have the same story. You know, there's nothing new in the sun. What the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox and the Buddhists and the Hindus, the things that they seek for, you know, you're going to just find the same stories in the Bible. Okay? They haven't come up with some brand new smart idea. You know, they've come up with the same stupid ideas that people did stupidly in the Bible in the past. Okay? In Exodus 32, verse number 4, this is shortly after the Israelites were delivered out of the land of Egypt. This is in Exodus 32, verse 4. So this is, Moses has gone to the Mount Sinai and he's been gone for 40 days. He's been gone a long time. And the people wanted a God for them to worship. They weren't happy with the invisible God. They weren't happy with a God that just dwells in the heavens. Okay? They wanted something tangible. They wanted to worship God in a very tangible sense. Exodus 32, verse 4, And he received them at their hand, this is Aaron, and fashioned it with a graven tool, after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Hey, which God brought them out of the land of Egypt? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of the Bible. And so this calf, this golden calf, this is the God that's, these are the gods that's delivered you out of the land of Egypt. Look at verse 5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. So this golden calf to Aaron, and to the Israelites, this is the Lord. Hey, we're just trying to worship the Lord that's delivered us out of Egypt. You know, this golden calf just gives us something tangible, just gives us something to think about, just to meditate. We know it's not really the real God. We know the Lord God that delivered out of Egypt is not really this calf, but he helps us worship the God, the Lord God, and we're going to do a feast unto him. It was an idol. It was a golden calf. It was a creature, something that is corruptible, trying to explain that which is incorruptible. And we know again, the Lord God, we don't want to go into context now, but God asked Moses to return. God is wrathful, right? This golden calf, Moses destroys this thing. You know, God wants to destroy all the Israelites, you know, all of them that came into the land of Egypt, except for Moses. God was furious. They tried to set up an image. Hey, they were trying to worship God, weren't they? Yeah, but they were worshiping an image. And again, what is it they're truly worshiping? Some devil. Okay, they're truly worshiping some devil. So you can't just say, well, I'm just trying to worship the true God of the Bible, you know, with these other images. Well, no, it doesn't. It doesn't help. Okay, God is angry at you. It's a wicked thing to do and you're worshiping devils. Please go to John chapter four. This is our last passage. Go to John chapter four of Psalm 23. In conclusion, brethren, John 4 23. We don't need statues. We don't need graven images. We don't need idols to worship God. Okay? We don't need them. I don't need to see a picture of Jesus. All right? I mean, these paintings and these images of a long haired Jesus, hippy Jesus anyway. He's not the real Jesus of the Bible. I don't need these images and these pictures. We don't need those things. But we are commanded to worship God. How does God want us to worship Him? John chapter four, verse number 23. The words of Jesus Christ. But the hour cometh and now is. When the true worshippers, so notice that, true worshippers, because there are false worshippers. Okay? When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. These idols, these images, these icons, they're not spiritual. You know, they're physical, carnal, wicked things. Okay? If you think you need these things to worship God, God the Father is not receiving that worship. You're not a true worshipper of the Father. You're a false worshipper. But not just that, in truth. In truth. Again, people set up these images of Jesus, a long haired Jesus. You know, no, that's not Jesus. That's not the true Jesus. You know, some white, blonde, blue-eyed Jesus. That's not Jesus. It's not in truth. Oh, we're just trying to worship Jesus. It's not true. Okay? Worshiping Mary and the Queen of Heaven. It's not true. Okay? These things are false idols. You know, these things are devils. It's not truth. You're not worshiping God. God wants worship. God wants us to worship Him. But we're commanded to worship Him in spirit. Spiritual. Okay? Not some tangible icon. Spiritual. And truth. Okay? If it's not truly God, then it's not being received by God. Okay? So, let that be a reminder. Are we to worship God? Yes. What's the best way to worship God? Number one, get rid of your idols. Get rid of all those images. I don't think anyone does it. I don't know. In this church, maybe you do. Okay? Hopefully this is challenging. Maybe someone online. This challenges someone online. Okay? But we must come before the Lord in worshiping in spirit and in truth. Okay? And this is how God requires us to worship Him. Okay? This is what He receives. I want to be a true worshiper of God. Don't you? A true worshiper of Jesus Christ. That's what we're called to be. Okay, brethren? So that's commandment number two. Commandment number two, as I said. Grave in images, statues, and idolatry. Our church has to do nothing with these things. Okay? Have nothing to do with it. And please have nothing to do with it in your family as well. Okay? Let's pray.