So, have you ever been in a factory? Have you ever toured a factory? Uh, many moons ago? Uh I got a job for one week um in the accounting department of um what is the old, one of the oldest and still one of the top two golf cart companies in the world? Now, the miracle of what I just shared is that somehow I got hired even for a week in an accounting department anywhere on the planet. That's just an amazing thing. Uh Math is just not my thing and neither is numbers, but not only was there a miracle that I got that job, but they kept me beyond the week I stayed there almost six months working in the accounting department. And one day my supervisor took me on the factory floor and it was mesmerizing. I, I was just, I was fascinated with all of it. And when we got in there, we, we toured the whole factory facility. And then when we got to the end of the assembly line, there was this huge digital board at the end of the line and there were two big numbers on it. The number on the left was how many golf carts were supposed to be made that day? And on the right was the number that had already been made that day. And it was in the hundreds in my mind. I think, I remember it said 415 but I could be wrong. But that's just what I remember in the hundreds though was this number of golf carts that were supposed to be made that day. I, I just couldn't believe it was like, how in the world can you make that many golf carts in a day? But the more mesmerizing thing was the number on the right was pretty close. They, they were almost there that day making this massive number of golf carts. And I remember watching that whole process and to this day, I am fascinated with factories, fascinated with how things are produced and the people involved in that gigantic process. Now, you may not know this, but you work in a factory and so do I every man woman, boy and girl in the universe. We, we all have a factory. We're all producing something. And what is it that we are producing? Well, today, we continue our series 10 ways to change the world where we are considering the ultimate laws of the universe, the the 10 commandments and as these 10 commandments that we are going to unpack in the weeks ahead, and we've arrived at the second commandment, the second way that we can change the world. And what we see in this second commandment is an image, a picture of the factories that we have and the kinds of things that we are producing. So again, I ask for our own hearts, what is it that we are producing? And what kind of factories do we have? Well, let's find out our sermon title today is Image is Everything. And we'll be looking in Exodus chapter 20. God's delivering a message to Moses to share with the people and we pick up in his continuing message in verse four, Exodus 20 verse four, the Lord says, you shall not make for yourself an idol. What kind of factory do we work in? We work in an idol factory. We are all producing idols in life. Now somebody may, may quickly and briskly say, uh that's not true. I'm I don't work in an idol factory. I'm not producing idols. I don't have idols in my house or in my backyard or my garage. I don't have idols that work. I'm, I'm not an idol maker. There was a man named Jeremiah who followed after God and God had a, a message that he gave to Jeremiah and Jeremiah gave it to the people. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse nine, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it. We live in a day and an age where we say things like well, well What's your heart telling you? Trust your heart, follow your heart. Listen to this quote. Even today, I am not ashamed to say that overpowered by stormy enthusiasm. I fell down on my knees and thanked heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time. And that that's a good heartfelt sentiment, right? I mean, fell down on my knees, thanked heaven from an overflowing heart. Those are heartfelt sentiments, but those are words written by Adolf Hitler in 1925 and his manifesto that that ultimately led to his reign of terror. You see, that's exactly why the 10 commandments and the whole of the Bible are so important. We desperately need a standard of objective truth. We need something that in every generation of humanity, it's always the same truth that can always be depended on truth that works every single time. And that's what God w God's word does and we need that truth because sometimes the worst thing we can possibly do is follow our heart. But it is the truth of the Bible. The truth of God's word that not only provides for our hearts but protects our hearts for all the different ways that we need to live life and all the different decisions we need to make in life. It is the word of God that is the most helpful. Graham Green was a journalist and a writer. He was also working with British intelligence during World War Two and many years ago, in a novel, he wrote this in our hearts. There is a ruthless dictator ready to contemplate the misery of 1000 strangers if it will ensure the happiness of the few we love. But there's a lot of truth in that statement because most of us would do just about anything for the people that we love. But that doesn't mean that doing just about anything would be right. There must be a, a standard of objective truth. There has to be something that we are looking to more than 500 years ago. Long before the, the modern concept of factories even existed. One pastor said this, that the human heart is a perpetual idol making factory, a perpetual idol making factory. In other words, the question is not, are we making idols? The question is, what kind of idols are we making? And that's exactly why in kindness and love for me and for you, God gave the second commandment. It's, it's a kind commitment. It is a loving commandment. You shall not make for yourself an idol don't, don't do it. Maybe mentally you may be struggling because you're like, you're just thinking about a statue, you know, and an idol. I just, I just think statues, I, I don't know what this means but remember anything and anyone anywhere all at once could be an idol, something that, that could present itself in our lives as an idol, money, power, education trophies, um, accomplishment, family, friends. I mean, anything, any genre in life can pull us toward idolatry. But some people say, well, that just sounds like some kind of religious propaganda. Oh, yeah, everything's an idol. So, so let's maybe oversimplify it and, and put it into some, some moments of real life. Christina Fox is a wife and mom. I think she lives in, uh, in the Atlanta area and, and she gave some idols that are particular to motherhood. But these idols are, are not just for motherhood because they apply to fatherhood. They apply to men, women, boys and girls of any generation anywhere. And this is the first idol. She says, she says affirmation, the idol of affirmation. Like, like we need people to say, oh, your kids are so well behaved. Oh, you're such a, a good golfer. Oh, you're such a great boss. Oh, you're, you're so good at this job or whatever it may be. We, we need that in that affirmation. And if we don't get that affirmation, we get discouraged and frustrated. So affirmation can be an idol but, but even even discouragement and frustration can be an idol. Second, she says Children, this is what Christina says. It can start with even the desire to have Children. It can become an all consuming longing, becoming more important in our life than God. And once we have Children, they can become idols. When we live for them and always try to make them happy. We can seek to find our fulfillment in and through them. And when they don't respond to us as we expect or fail us in some way, we are devastated. If you're a parent, we've all been there in that moment. We, we just know that feeling that our Children could even become idols. Next. She says success. We want our Children to be successful because it's a reflection on us. We may press them endlessly to excel. We may have in our mind, an image of what our perfect family looks like. And until we have it, we feel like a failure. And if our Children have limitations in some way, this may shatter our dreams as well. That desire for success, it begins to impact every moment of life. Fourth. She says control, let's just skip that one, right? Let's not even talk about that one. Let's just go over it. This is what she says. Being in control of all the details of life is a big idol for many moms. And I will say many dads, we sanitize little hands, keep them away from other kids with runny noses. And we try to plan ahead for any unexpected event. We spend our days trying to orchestrate every detail of our life and our children's life. But because nothing is actually in our control, we become anxious, worried and agitated when things don't go as planned. Well, that doesn't happen to any of us, does it? I, I can probably honestly say I have not spoken to another human being that has not said something like that this week. And sometimes that human being was me. Control can be an idol. And all of those affirmation, our Children, our family, our friends, the desire for success control. All of those things can be idols, any of us can struggle with those things, which is why God was so kind to us in giving us the second commandment. You shall not make for yourself an idol, any idol and then he he punctuates that look, continue in verse four, 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 under the earth. So sky, earth, see we're not supposed to create and make idols out of anything that flies or, or walks or swims or, or dances or, or sings or, or post on social media. We're not supposed to take anything and, and make an idol out of it. But look, we all can relate to this concept of images, right? We all have it. We are all image driven in some way, shape or form. I remember, I think I've shared this with you all before my, my grandmother. Um I guess my grandmother probably died when I was maybe about four or five. I can't remember exactly. But I remember my mom saying many years ago that there was an article in the paper about how one day when you're talking to somebody on the phone, you'll be able to see their face. And my mom says, I remember my mother saying that's the craziest thing. It'll never happen. It happened, right? We understand images. We we are even addicted to images sometimes controlled by images but but images are are part of everything we do. We, we could simply say looking at life in general, image is everything and that's not new. There's nothing new about that seeing and, and touching have always been a part of our drive for believing in something. We have to, we have to see it. We have to, to touch it. The the image has to be there. The same is true for the Israelites 3740 years ago, there was a bunch of images that they were wanting to turn to. And that's why again, God in His kindness gives the second commandment. He gives this second commandment as a way to let them know. Look, don't get wrapped up in the images, get wrapped up in me, get wrapped up in my holiness and my power and my authority and my love and my grace and my mercy. Someone may ask that. Well, what if the idol is something that represents something connected to God? I mean, what if, what if the idol is, is something from heaven above? What if the, what if the idol is, is angels or what if the idols is the streets of gold or what if the idol is, is even a cross? What if it represents something else? Wouldn't it be? Ok then? Well, the, the example I've been sharing in this series so far that I've shared before is, is like worshiping the 10 commandments. It's like being so obsessed that the 10 commandments are hanging somewhere in public and yet not actually honoring those commandments in our life. That someone in the church, I don't remember. It wasn't actually uh earlier this week said, I wonder how many average church members and churches all of could even say the 10 commandments and we say we believe them. But do, do we even know what they are? Could we say them in order? Could, could we get five out of 10? So the picture is, is not that it's wrong to talk about angels or streets of gold. It's not, it's not wrong to have the 10 commandments up on the wall. It's not wrong to wear a cross around your neck. It's not wrong to, to build a sanctuary. It's not wrong. It's just when we consider the character and the nature of God, when we consider who God is, when we consider that God is holy, holy, holy, I, I'm not, you're not, we're not holy. Holy. Holy God is other other other he was, he is and he is to come. He has no beginning and he has no end. There is absolutely no one like God, past present or future. There will never be anyone like God. And because of that, because of the character of who He is, because of his awesomeness, it is not possible to make an image that even remotely captures who he is. Even something that is from heaven above it is dangerous. And why is it so dangerous? Look what God says next. You shall not worship them nor serve them. 3740 years ago, Moses was up on a mountain called Sinai and God was giving the 10 commandments to him, directly giving them to Moses. But the halftime show is over and the people down at the bottom of the mountain, they were, they were getting restless, they, they needed something to do, they needed something to engage with, they needed something to see which ultimately led to them having something else to worship. So they went to Aaron, the brother of Moses and they said, hey, here's, here's a bunch of jewelry, go go make us something. So Aaron made them a, a golden calf and, and he brought the calf to the people. And this is what the people said, Exodus 32 5. This is your God Israel who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it wasn't the one true God who definitively and dramatically rescued the Hebrew people. No, according to the people who had just been rescued, just been rescued by the one true God. According to those people, they were rescued by a golden cow that was formed three months after they were rescued. None of that. Math works. It just doesn't. Jamie and I were, were laughing talking a week or two ago about the reality of, of what happened with the Israelites. These people, unlike any other people that have ever lived at any time in history, they saw God do amazing things and almost immediately they turned and went the other way. So why are we surprised that our kids do it? Why are we surprised that our grandkids do it? Why are we surprised that we do it? The people who saw God in amazing and powerful ways, they, they turned as soon as they couldn't see what was happening. Moses was taken too long. He'd been up there too long. They, they were getting impatient, they were getting restless and their impatient, restless attitude led them to say, hey, what, what's going on, man? It's, it's been three months. Where's, where's this land? We were promised? Look, something should be happening, something should be going on. So if God's not going to do something, then, then we're going to have to do something. Sound familiar. How many times have we found ourselves going? Well, I, I don't know what God's doing this. This isn't working out. Why isn't this happening? The way it needs to happen. Why aren't these things happening in my marriage? Why aren't these things happening with my kids? Why aren't these things happening in the church? Why aren't these things happening in the community in the country? What's, what's going on? Why is, why is God not doing what he's doing? And what we do is we don't even know it, but we begin collecting idols. We either make them ourselves or someone else has made them man. We'll, we'll run with it because we are so desperate to feel like something is happening to, to see something that we think we can believe in and make my mistake. We may not have golden cows in our backyard or in our house. But, but we're all making idols. We're all worshiping idols again. It's not, it's not, are we? It's, what kind are we making? We are all worshiping something, we're all worshiping something. So how do we know what we're worshiping? Tim Keller said this a counterfeit God is anything so central and essential to your life that should you lose it? Your life would feel hardly worth living. I wanna read that again. A counterfeit God is anything so central and essential to your life that should you lose it. Your life would feel hardly worth living what's, what's central and essential to your life. Look, there's important things in life. Ok. Yesterday, I had a little family meeting with my mom and my sisters and, and I've been taking care of, of everything since my dad died, uh, last year. And, and at 1.1 of my sisters said, ok, doubt, um, what if something happens to you who we don't know anything, you know? But thankfully I've created a thing. So if something happens to me, they, they can log in somewhere and find out everything they need to find out and there's a little briefcase with stuff. It's, it's got a little, got a little something together. You know, there are central, essential, important things in life. We're not saying that. But if my mom and my sisters lose me, they don't lose God. But if we're not careful, we will treat spouses, parents, Children, jobs, countries, money, all kinds of things with that type of importance. And by definition, those things might become counterfeit gods in our lives. So is God the central essential part of who you are? Or are there other things that are taking the place of God? When Aaron finished making the statue, he placed it and said, ok, we're going to set this part right here as a holy altar, but it wasn't, it was just space around a golden cow. It, it wasn't really an altar. You see an altar was a place that you had to go to deal with sin. There's a story told about a young man named Thorpe Thorpe and his buddies hated the great preacher from many, many years. Ago, George Whitfield, they didn't like him. George Whitfield is very popular, kind of revivalist preacher and, and they didn't like him and they would make fun of him. They even had a little club, they called their club, the Hellfire Club and they would make fun of George Whitfield. And Thorpe got a hold of a copy of one of Whitfield's sermons. And one night at the pub, Thorpe got up and said, all right, here you go. And he decided to mock Whitfield. He had a good impersonation. He was a good impersonator of Whitfield. So he, he impersonated Whitfield by reading the sermon and everybody in the pub is laughing, they're drinking having a great time. And then about halfway through his impersonation, something happened, Thorpe had a change. He began trembling because God helped him see that what he was mockingly reading was the truth and his heart was broken. He climbed down off the table, he got on his knees. He begged for God to save him. He believed in the gospel. And Thorpe went on to become a preacher himself calling a place an altar doesn't make it an altar. In fact, calling a place, an altar could make it an idol because dealing with sin ultimately needs a person, not a place. And Hebrews 13 says that Jesus Christ is that person and that place that when it comes to dealing with sin, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for sin. So a person in order to deal with sin, to be made, right with God must come to Jesus, the person and the place in that sense, we could say that Jesus is the only altar because sin can only be dealt with Jesus. Have you truly come to Jesus? Have you stepped down off the table and, and been broken by the great news of the gospel and turn to Jesus. If not, then come to Jesus today. Receive him today. Be freed from sin by Jesus today. Listen to what God says next to Moses verse five. For I the Lord, your God am a jealous. God jealous. Well, why would God be, be jealous? I mean, he's not a renter, right? I mean, he, he actually owns everything in the universe, right? So I mean, why, why would God be jealous? It doesn't even make any sense. King David said this about God. Psalm 16 verse 11 in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand. There are pleasures forever. There is no greater treasure, there is no greater joy, there is no greater pleasure than being right with God. If you are right with God, there is absolutely no value in an idol. It's just not, well, whatever your idol may be. If you are right with God, there is no value in making or worshiping idols, no value at all in any universe. John Piper said this God's jealousy is a massive emotional thunderclap that says I mean, it, I'm your savior. I'm your treasure. I'm your pleasure. I really mean it don't turn away. God's jealousy is not mean girl, high school jealousy. God's jealousy is marked with perfect love, perfect joy, perfect pleasure. And then God tells Moses what his jealousy can do. Verse five, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the Children, on the 3rd and 4th generations of those who hate me, but showing favor to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Sounds like a reason to research your family tree, right? There's, there's something to that. W what is this, what a strange thing to put in the, in the middle of this commandment? What, what is God talking about? Well, let's first say what it, what it's not talking about, it's not saying that my great, great grandchildren are going to hell if I start worshiping idols. Ezekiel 18 says that that no one is held, no one innocent is, is held accountable for someone else's evil sin. However, it does mean that if I spend my life worshiping idols, if I spend my life and, and let me say it this way because I, I think for most of us who are connected to church, we're like, I'm never going to worship Bibles if we spend most of our life in front of our spouses and our Children and our grandchildren, showing them that something besides Jesus Christ is the central essential reality of our lives. Then there's a high probability that our great great grandchildren might do the same thing because that's what we invested. That's what we passed down. Now. There are exceptions to that. Absolutely. I mean, there, there are many times where some of the strongest Christian men and women in the church have just rebellious wayward Children. And likewise, sometimes some of the most fantastic young people that come to faith in Christ have parents who are not believers. But the picture here at the very least is that if God's going to include this as language in his commandment, then what we should think as parents and grandparents at the very least is we should be stirred toward one of two things, joy or terror, joy or terror. What are we investing and our kids and our grandkids, do we have joy that we are trying to direct them toward Jesus or should we have terror that we're not really showing them that the central most essential thing in their life is Jesus. I was laughing earlier when I was standing up here with JT because I've always joked with JT and Ashley that, um, all three of their kids have, have hated me. I mean, just they do just, they've, they've just, they, no smiles, no waves, no, nothing until like a moment like that. Something switched. The Tate was pretty good the whole time with me. You know, Caroline. Oh, I don't know, Caroline is a whole another bird, you know, and I, but I remember the day that Caroline smiled at me, it was preschool morning, I'd walk by. She was in her class, like, hey Caroline and she smiled, I went, oh, but here's a great Eliza smiled earlier than Caroline. So I was like, ok, this is good. And, and so what's happening is JT and Ashley are training their kids to love the pastor. You know, that's, that's, that's how this thing is, is working, you know, but you know, we we all see these little things in our kids, right? And the beauty of, of the oddity of this in the commentary that God gives on his commandment is this, hey, parent grandparent just do everything you can to help direct your kids and your grandkids toward Jesus, help them, see him, help them learn to love. It may not be at first it, it may just happen in a day, but at least direct them toward Jesus. Help them see that in your life and your longing for their life is that he would be their central essential reality. Don't make any idols, don't worship any idols and don't train your family to do that as well. But how do you know what your factory is? How do you know what the the factory of your heart is producing? How do you know if your factory is producing a joy in the glory of God or if your factory is producing a joy in counterfeit Gods. It sounds like a big question. It, it may not be that hard to answer though. Think of it this way. What is your favorite kind of music? No, no, no wrong or right here. What's your favorite kind of music? All right. What's your favorite kind of, of book or, or movie or TV? Show? What's, what's, what's your genre now? Think about all those favorites, music, books, movies, TV, whatever. And think about those favorites. And then, and then listen to these words from CS Lewis. The books are the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust in them. It was not in them. It only came through them and what came through them was longing. One pastor said the reason that the big CG I movies are, are so popular is because we go in the movie theater and we, we, uh, and we, ah, wow. Oh, because we have a longing for beauty and wonder and all, and those things show us that it exists. But Lewis says they're, they're just a precursor. They're, they're showing that we have a longing for that. And he goes on these things are good images of what we really desire. But if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. We probably see this the most with people's favorite sports teams, right? I mean, the teams that just can't ever win. You know, and now we see their fans on Tiktok and Instagram just like melting and losing their life. When their team loses, they break the hearts of their worshipers. Cius Lewis says this for, they are not the thing itself, they are only the scent of a flower. We have not found the echo of a tune. We have not heard news from a country we have never yet visited. See, that's what the second commandment actually does. It says, hey, don't have any idols don't make them and don't worship them because they will break your heart because they cannot meet and match the longing that you were created with. That longing can only be met in God. It's such a kind, loving thing that God did in giving us the second commandment. He knew that all the other idols will break our hearts but he won't. So for the good of your family, for the good of your friends, for the good of this church, for the good of this community, for the good of the country, for the good of the world, for the good of our very own souls. Let us be the kind of people that have heart factories that produce just the one thing, a longing for the glory of God. A longing for a country. We have not yet visited the country of God, a country where the king is always saying to us, I really mean it. I am your savior. I am your treasure. I am your pleasure. Don't, don't turn away.