The scripture reading comes from Deuteronomy chapter 5.
Please follow along on the screen.
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them,
Hear, O Israels, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today,
and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Herob,
not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant,
but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain,
out of the midst of the fire,
while I stood between the Lord and you at that time
to declare to you the word of the Lord.
For you were afraid because of the fire,
and you did not go up into the mountain.
He said, I'm the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
or that is in the earth beneath
or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them,
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the equities of the fathers on the children
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing steadfast love to the thousands of those
who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not behold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain.
Observe the Sabbath to keep it holy
as the Lord your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh is the Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it you shall not do any work,
you or your son or your daughter
or your male servant or your female servant
or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock
or the sojourner who is within your gates,
that your male servant and your female servant
may rest as well as you.
You shall remember that you were a slave
in the land of Egypt,
and the Lord your God brought you out from there
with mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore the Lord your God commanded you
to keep the Sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother
as the Lord of your God commanded you,
that your days may be long
and that it may go well with you in the land
that the Lord your God has given you.
You shall not murder,
and you shall not commit adultery,
and you shall not steal,
and you shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor,
and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
and you shall not desire your neighbor's house,
his field,
or his male servant,
or his female servant,
his ox,
or his donkey,
or anything that is your neighbor's.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you, Sylvie.
And good morning, Watermark Church.
It is great to be back with you,
I guess in a technological sense.
It's wonderful to be able to gather as a family
and around God's Word
and to praise Him
and to pray together as a church family.
We were so hoping to be back together this week,
but as Oscar said,
alas, not yet,
but hopefully soon,
we'll be back at Ebenezer together.
Just one last thing up front.
I hope that you were as encouraged
and edified as I was last week
by the One Church Hong Kong service.
It was so wonderful gathering
as a church across the city together
to celebrate what God is doing in our city,
and I hope you were encouraged.
It was a wonderful service for our city.
Will you join me as we pray?
Let's pray together,
commit our time before God,
and ask Him to speak to us from His Word,
and then we're going to dive into
the second of the Ten Commandments.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Sovereign Father,
Holy Spirit,
we come before you this morning,
this 10th of May,
to worship you and to praise you,
to give you the worship that you are due,
but also, Father,
to align our own hearts towards you.
God, as we look at your Word this morning,
we right up front need to acknowledge
that we are so often tempted
to stray and to put our hope and trust
in all sorts of false gods and idols
that really cannot satisfy.
But you, Christ, have the words of life.
You, Christ, are life.
You, Christ, are the life-giving,
life-breathing, sovereign God.
And as we come and align our hearts with you,
our own hearts and souls are filled with life.
God, we pray this morning, do that to us.
God, as we come back to you
and listen to your Word,
won't you breathe your life into us?
Won't you give us fresh life this morning?
God, give us fresh hope.
Give us fresh confidence.
Give us fresh security and peace in you.
God, open our eyes to see your majesty
and your glory.
Help us, God, to trust you.
We acknowledge, Father,
that we have so many doubts and questions at times.
God, open our eyes to see your glory.
Just as we sang that song a little while ago
about you deserve the greater glory,
I was just reminded,
God, I need to see your glory.
I want to see your glory.
God, do that for us this morning, we pray.
Not just this morning, this week.
Tomorrow, the rest of this week,
as we prepare for kids to go back to school
and offices to resume.
God, show us your glory.
Help us to see your majesty
and therefore to worship you.
We pray these things in your wonderful and powerful name.
Amen.
As a church, we are looking at this extremely well-known passage of Scripture
in the Old Testament,
this set of instructions that has come to be known as the Ten Commandments.
But they're not commandments in any kind of arbitrary sense of the word,
like ten rules or ten pieces of legislation.
These are God's words that are given to us for our abundance,
for our flourishing,
and really intended for God's people to prosper.
Now, one of the great privileges that we have
is we get to see these ten words for abundant life
in the context, the historical context in which they're given.
And that's really important.
In fact, these ten words are given twice in the Old Testament.
The first time, they are given in Exodus chapter 20,
which happens right after Israel leaves Egypt.
They are saved by the blood of the Lamb.
They leave over Passover.
They pass through the waters,
and they enter into the wilderness.
And there they are constituted as the nation of Israel,
as God's people.
And God gives His people these words of instruction
for their flourishing and for abundant life.
And that's really important,
because what that tells us is that
these words aren't given in order that Israel might become God's people.
They're given because they are God's people.
These words aren't given in order that Israel might earn
or merit God's favor or His acceptance.
They're given because they already have His favor.
They already have His acceptance.
They already are His chosen people.
These words are intended for God's people
to become everything that He wished and wanted for them to become.
But then they're given a second time in Deuteronomy chapter 5,
and that's the passage that we're looking at in this series.
And what happens is that the book of Deuteronomy
serves as a kind of pivot or a hinge
between two sections in Israel's history.
The first section we've just spoken about,
they leave Egypt, they go into the wilderness.
And after the book of Deuteronomy,
Israel enters the second portion of their history,
which is when they go into the promised land,
they settle there, they establish the kingdom
under Saul and David,
and they really become the nation of Israel
in the promised land.
And in between these two sections of the history
lies the book of Deuteronomy.
And in the book of Deuteronomy,
Moses gives the sermon to the people of God,
reminding them of God's faithfulness,
His goodness, and His good words to them,
and encouraging them and urging them
that as they go into the promised land
to remember God's words,
to obey them, that they will prosper.
And the book of Deuteronomy is Moses' sermon,
his parting words before he dies,
to God's people saying,
as you go into the promised land,
remember your God and remember His words to you.
The question is,
how's Israel gonna respond?
Are they gonna obey God's word
and experience prosper and abundance and flourishing?
Or are they gonna reject it and experience demise?
And the rest of the Old Testament,
from Deuteronomy onwards,
really catalogues Israel's decisions
of how they respond to God and His word.
And that same question applies for us today.
For those of us that are part of God's people,
how are we gonna respond to God's word
and His track record of faithfulness?
Are we gonna trust Him and obey Him,
experience His flourishing and His abundance?
Or are we gonna reject it and experience demise?
Now today we get to the second of these 10 commandments.
And there's three things I want us to see in this passage.
What is the second commandment, firstly?
Secondly, how do we break it or why do we break it?
And thirdly, where do we find our hope?
Where do we find the solution?
So what is the commandment?
Why do we break it?
Where are we gonna find our hope?
So what is the second commandment?
Well, Sylvie read it to us, but this is what it says.
Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything,
in the heavens above, the earth below,
or underneath the earth and the waters beneath the sea.
Do not bow down and worship them.
Do not serve them.
Because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the father's iniquity
to the third and fourth generation for those who hate me,
but showing faithful, steadfast love
to a thousand generations of those who love me
and keep my commands.
Now, straight away, you should see
this very clear connection
between the first and the second commandment.
The first commandment we looked at two weeks ago,
you shall have no other gods before me.
And Moses is saying here that it's impossible
to break the second commandment
without breaking the first one.
You can't have other gods or idols in your life
without also, not, without breaking the first commandment
of having no other gods beside me.
In many ways, the first and second commandment
are two sides of the same coin.
They are intrinsically linked together.
When we worship or revere idols or false gods in our lives,
the one true God is no longer first in our heart.
He no longer has exclusive rights
to our affections and our devotions.
Now, in the second commandment,
there are actually two things that God is forbidding.
On the one hand, the second commandment
is regulating what we worship,
that we worship the one true God alone.
By forbidding idol worship,
God is forbidding His people
from coming to church on Sundays,
declaring their allegiance and their worship to God,
and yet on Monday to Friday,
going and finding our hope and our trust in other gods.
God is calling us to live all of our lives devoted to Him.
You see, we may functionally call ourselves Christians,
but actually, if our hope and our confidence
isn't something else, your children or your career,
that is functionally your God.
We could call ourselves atheists, agnostics,
worshipers of no God,
but actually, if our hope and trust is in our career,
our work, our money, our social approval,
what people think of us,
functionally, that is our God.
That is what we worship.
Now, I'm sure we realize that
whatever thing takes on a God-like status in our life,
whatever thing becomes our God
has its own version of the Ten Commandments.
For instance, picture your children
being the most important thing in your life,
the thing for which you live and exist,
the thing that gives you hope and security and peace.
Maybe some of your Ten Commandments might sound like this.
You shall have no other interests besides your children.
You shall make sure your child
has all the opportunities they can.
Maybe social approval,
society's approval of you,
is the most important thing.
Then the Ten Commandments might look like this.
You shall always look your confident best.
You shall never make sure anybody sees any faults in you.
But hoping and trusting in anything
other than the sovereign God
always leads to our demise and our ruin.
But there's actually something else going on
in the Second Commandments here.
God is not only regulating what we worship,
Him, the one true God,
He's also regulating how we worship.
In other words, in the Second Commandment,
God is not only forbidding His people
from worshiping false gods,
He's also forbidding us from worshiping Him,
the one true God,
in a false or illegitimate way.
How so?
By creating objects or images
that we think represent God,
infusing them with special powers
or ascribing to them spiritual properties
and using them in our worship
through which we worship God.
It's not just that God is forbidding us
from worshiping false gods
like money or sex or career or power.
He's also instructing us not to worship Him
by taking some object, some image,
infusing it with power
and using it in our worship of Him.
In Exodus 32, there's this famous example of this.
And it actually happens while Moses is on the mountain
busy getting the Ten Commandments.
He's up there for about six weeks, 40 days.
The Israelites are below
and they feel like,
where's this Moses guy?
We haven't seen him for a long time.
Maybe he's died up there.
Maybe he's forgotten about us.
And so they come to Moses' brother, Aaron,
the high priest,
and they say,
Aaron, make a God for us
that will go before us.
And so Aaron makes this golden calf
and Moses comes down the mountain,
sees this golden calf
and completely freaks out.
But what's interesting is that
when Aaron makes this golden calf,
he's not suggesting that Israel
stop worshiping Yahweh
and now worship something else.
In fact, he says to them,
as he makes this calf,
he says,
Israel, here is your God.
Here are the gods
that have delivered you from Egypt.
And then he says this.
He says,
Tomorrow there will be a festival,
a celebration to Yahweh.
You see what he's doing there?
He's taking this golden calf
and he's saying,
here is Yahweh.
He's not urging them
to worship Baal or Melech
or some other god
of the nations around them.
But he's taken some physical thing
and he says this represents God.
Now why did the people of Israel want that?
Because as they go into the promised land,
they want some physical,
tangible thing
that they can look to,
hold on to,
something that will assure them
that God is with them,
that God's presence is with them.
As they journey on their way,
they want to know
that God is with them,
something they can look to
or hold on to
for that security
and that assurance
that everything is going to be fine
in the future.
Friends,
we actually find
that we do this all the time.
This thing of
finding some object
and ascribing deity to it
is more common
than we realize.
Maybe,
for some of us,
we have some
special object,
maybe a special ornament,
a pendant
that your mother
or your grandmother gave you
and when you hold it,
you feel closer to God.
You feel His presence.
For some people,
maybe a silver cross
that gives them comfort
while they pray.
They feel God is closer to them
as they hold this cross.
For some people,
maybe it's a certain person.
They spend time
with a priest
or a pastor.
They feel closer to God
like that person
has a direct connection to God
and can help them.
But friends,
all of that is infusing
in some created thing
divine and sacred properties
and treating them reverentially.
We're breaking
the second commandment.
Now,
we may think,
but hang on,
I don't do that.
I don't have any special pendants,
special ornaments.
I don't pray
with the silver cross
or beads.
I don't worship God
like this.
But what about
mental images of God?
How many of us
have created
an image of God
in our mind,
an image of who God is
and we worship
and adore
and revere that God
rather than
the one true God?
How often do we find
people saying,
well,
the God that I believe
in would never say
something like that
or the God that I believe
in would never allow
that to happen
or I don't believe
in a God
who does this
or who judges people.
My God
accepts everybody
unconditionally
just as they are.
What have we done?
We've created
a God in our minds
and we're worshiping
and bowing down
a created God,
a God that is no God
at all.
Maybe the God
that you've created
in your mind
is a God
who is just
always loving,
always accepting
and will never judge
anybody
or hold anybody
accountable.
Well, look at what
our passage says here.
It actually says
very interesting.
God says,
I am the Lord your God,
I'm a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity
of the fathers
on the children
to the third
and fourth generation
of those who hate me.
Now, what's God
saying here?
Well, what he's not saying
is that there's such a thing
called generational curses.
He's not saying
that we need to repent
for the sins
of our ancestors,
the third
and fourth generation.
He's not saying
that if one generation sins,
well, sorry for the next generation,
you're just going to have to
bear the consequences
of your parents' sins.
In the book of Ezekiel,
chapter 18,
God is very clear
that he doesn't punish children
for the sins
of their parents.
But what he's saying
is that as one generation
rejects God
and worships idols
and false gods,
as the next generation
follow in the footsteps
of their parents,
they're going to bear
the same consequences.
You can't just say,
well, I'm sorry,
that's my upbringing.
That's the way
my parents taught me
how to behave.
You can't excuse
your disobedience
by pointing to your childhood
or your personal history.
What this means
is that as each generation
participates
or perpetuates
the sins of their parents,
they face the same consequences.
But the point is this.
How many people say,
well, God, I believe
and would never judge anybody.
I don't believe
in a God like that.
What have we done?
We've created
an image of God.
We've created
a God in our mind,
a God that we worship,
a God that is no God
at all.
Now, why do we do this?
Because,
like idols,
it's so much safer,
so much easier
to control
a God that is manageable,
a God that we imagine,
a God that suits our needs,
a God that never
disagrees with us
or contradicts us
or challenges us.
And so just like people
in the ancient world
would create
a physical,
material God
that they could
bring out and worship,
a God that would serve them,
a God that they could serve
in their own
comfortable,
convenient way,
so we do the same
with mental images of God.
We create a God
in our mind,
a God that is no God
at all.
And yet,
as Tony Reinke
reminds us,
there is nothing
more dangerous
than religious confidence
in a fake God
of our imagineering.
This is a problem.
Now,
as we said,
we may be tempted to think,
but I don't do this.
500 years ago,
a French pastor
by the name of John Kelvin,
very famous
and brilliant man,
very perceptively
said this,
this human heart
is an idol factory,
a perpetual creator
of God's.
And what he's saying here
is that every human being
from the time
the world was made
cannot help
but find things
to hold on to,
to look to,
to put our hope
and our confidence in,
things to trust,
things that we look to
to guarantee us
a secure
and prosperous future,
things that we worship.
John Kelvin shows us
that we actually
all look to things
to serve
with the hope
that it will serve us
in return.
Why do we do this?
Well,
here's a couple of reasons.
First reason is
because we're made
in the image of God.
As human beings,
we are made to worship.
It's part of our DNA.
We cannot help
but worship
because we're made
to worship
the one true God.
Now, of course,
the fall has distorted that
and so we worship
created things
rather than
the creator himself.
But part of our DNA,
our heart's wiring
is to worship.
El Mola said it like this,
the human soul
will find
an object of worship
whether on the shelf
in the store,
whether in our bank statements,
whether in the mirror
in front of us,
whether in the temple
or in the heavens,
we were created
to worship.
It's part of our DNA.
But here's another reason
why we do this.
Because idols,
the false gods
that we create,
whether material
in front of us,
whether existential
or whether mental
images of God,
the idols that we
think represent God
and that we worship
and serve,
that we hope
and trust in,
always lie to us
about the ability
to give us life.
You see,
false gods and idols
always promise us
an abundant life,
a life full of joy
and prosperity
and peace.
Don Frame,
who's a brilliant theologian,
said it like this.
He said,
idols lie to us,
not because God
is invisible
and cannot be pictured,
but because idols
fail to picture
what is most important
about God,
His personality,
His ability
to see,
to hear,
to speak,
to interact
with His creatures.
Without personality,
God cannot judge,
which may seem
like good news
to hedonists,
but it's bad news
for the rest of the universe
or anyone
that's suffered injustice.
But without personality,
God also cannot love,
which is bad news
for all of us.
You see, friends,
lifeless idols
cannot impart life to us.
They promise us the world,
but they never deliver.
One of the distinctive things
about the God of the Bible
is that He's personable.
He's relatable
and He infuses us
with life
and fullness of life.
The one who knows us the best
and loves us the most,
as we worship Him
and come and serve Him,
we find that we become
more fully human.
We become like Him.
We become the people
that God's called us
and created us to be.
We experience fullness of life.
And on the contrary,
the false gods
that we are so tempted
to hope and trust in
are lifeless beings.
They promise us the world,
but actually,
they suck life out of us.
They suck joy out of us.
They suck hope out of us.
Just think about the person
that lives for the next promotion at work.
Someone who lives for advancing
in their career.
Are they more gracious?
More understanding?
More gentle?
More sympathetic?
More compassionate
with those around them?
Of course not.
Think about the person
that lives for their children's success.
That their very meaning
is found in their children
being successful and doing well.
Are they more gracious
and understanding
when their children make mistakes?
Are they more compassionate
when things don't go well?
Are they more forgiving
when things go wrong?
Of course not.
Idols promise us life
and joy and freedom,
but they do anything but that.
They suck life out of our lives.
Here's another reason.
Why do we find this so tempting?
Because idols promise us
the illusion of being in control.
The great temptation, of course,
of worshipping a false god
is that it promises us
that we can be in control.
Think about in the ancient days.
You carved this idol
out of a piece of wood
or silver or stone.
You can bring it in when you want,
but you can also put it away.
You can hide it
when it's inconvenient,
but you can also bring it out
when you want to show off to others.
You can worship it how you want,
when you want,
when it's convenient for you to worship
in a way that suits you.
Friends, the false gods
that we hope and trust in
are no different.
They promise us control,
but actually they take control from us.
Think of the person
for whom appearance and beauty
is the most important thing in life.
We might think,
it's not such a big deal.
I just want to take care of my body.
Nothing wrong with wanting to look good.
But scarcely can they walk past the mirror
without stopping and looking.
Almost all day,
you're thinking,
what do people think of me?
How do I look?
How am I perceived by those around me?
A few years ago,
I read a magazine article
in a British magazine
about a young lady
that grappled with this.
And listen to what she says.
She says,
sitting on my bed last December,
I stared at the stacks of makeup
scattered around my bedroom.
I'd counted 213 lipsticks,
130 eyeshadow palettes,
102 blushes,
65 eyeliners,
17 mascaras.
And that wasn't even all of it.
After doing some initial calculations,
I worked out I'd spent 15,000 pounds,
150,000 Hong Kong dollars,
in the last year alone.
I was buying makeup as a way
to improve my mood
when I was struggling with depression.
Buying makeup gave me a high,
a feeling of being happy and hopeful,
of being in control.
That made me feel better
after feeling low about my job
and my low self-worth.
The shocking numbers confirmed
what I'd been worried about.
My spending habit
had got seriously out of control.
You see that?
Idols promise us control,
but they take control from us.
Well, think about the person
for whom wealth and financial freedom
is the most important thing in our life.
We tell ourselves,
I'm just being a good steward.
I'm taking care of my family.
I'm looking after my family's wealth.
But have we ever stopped to think
how much is enough?
And when we get there,
what happens?
We suddenly find it's not enough.
We have a figure in our mind
that if I get there,
I'll feel safe,
I'll feel secure,
only to get there
and not feel safe and secure
and need a whole lot more.
John Kelvin reminds us
that all of us,
our hearts are idle factories,
perpetually creating gods
that we hope and trust in.
Now you may say,
Kevin, speak for yourself.
I've grew up in a Christian family.
All I've ever done is worship God.
I've never worshiped false gods around me.
All my days,
since the day I can remember,
I've longed to live and worship God.
Maybe you're not religious at all
and you say,
I don't worship any God.
I'm a free thinker.
I'm free from all religious devotion
and delusion.
Well, in the New Testament,
in the book of Colossians,
the apostle Paul writes a fascinating thing.
In chapter three,
he writes this.
He says,
put to death what is earthly in you,
sexual immorality,
affairs, pornography, lust,
impurity, passions,
evil desires,
and covetousness,
all of which is idolatry.
And then he goes on
to speak about the way
that we use our mouths.
He says,
do not lie to one another,
speaking untruthfully.
Don't get angry.
Stop slandering
and speaking about people
behind their backs.
What's Paul saying here?
He's saying,
the things in our lives
that we're most ashamed about,
the vices that we try and hide
and don't really want anyone to see,
is actually located
in a deeper issue.
Those aren't just habits.
They're not just personality.
It's not just our upbringing.
There's something going on
in our hearts there.
There's something that we hope
and trust in
that is driving
and forming our behavior.
Why do we lie?
Maybe it's because
our image is threatened.
What people think of us
is under threat.
I wonder how many of us
can relate to this.
Your boss says to you,
have you got that report
I asked you to do
and you haven't quite finished it?
And so what do we say?
Yeah, I've done it.
As soon as I get back
to my computer,
I'll send it to you
straight away.
And then we run to our computer
and frantically type away.
What's going on there?
Our image,
our sense of having it all together,
being a good employee
is suddenly under threat.
And so what comes out of our mouth
is not quite the truth
because we need to protect our idol.
Friends,
why do we get angry
with our kids,
with our spouse,
with our boss,
with our colleagues,
with the government?
Is it not because
some idol is under threat?
Something that we hope
and trust in,
something that promises us
security and peace
is challenged.
We cannot help
but the anger
in our hearts
comes out.
Why do people steal money
and defraud others?
Very seldom is it
because they literally
have no food
to put on the table.
Often it's because
that sense of being in control,
the freedom
that money promises,
that millions promises,
is too alluring
and so people steal
and defraud others.
Friends,
the bad news is
we're all idol worshippers.
The heart is an idol factory,
a perpetual creator
of God's.
What I want to do now
is I want to ask us
just to take two minutes
and I've got a couple of questions
on the screen
and I would love us to,
if you're with somebody else,
to process these questions together.
Otherwise,
if you're on your own,
maybe take a journal
and just write some thoughts
as you process these questions.
Three questions for us.
What makes you feel secure
when you have it
and insecure when you don't?
What causes you extreme emotion,
extreme joy,
extreme despondency,
extreme anxiety?
What do you think
could possibly be an idol,
a false god,
in your life?
Let's take a couple of minutes
and think about that now.
Okay.
We've looked at the second command
and we've looked at the way
that all of us
break it.
So where do we find hope?
Where do we find hope
for idolaters
like myself
and like you?
In the person of Jesus Christ,
we have the hope
that we're looking for
because in the gospel,
we have the good news
that we don't need
to create a God.
We don't need to find a God.
We don't need to serve a God
in the hope
that maybe He will serve us.
In the gospel,
in Jesus Christ,
we have the one true God
who came to us
to show us
what God is really like,
that we may come to Him
and find the life
and the freedom
that we desperately long for
and we desperately need.
In Jesus Christ,
we have the hope
that our hearts long for.
In his book,
Counterfeit Gods,
Tim Keller has this amazing line
where he says,
in ancient times,
the gods were bloodthirsty
and hard to appease.
They demanded your all.
The gods of today
still are.
Friends,
in the gospel,
we are given the great news
that we don't need
to sacrifice our lives
because in the gospel,
we have a God who came
and He sacrificed Himself
for us
that we may find
His favor
and His blessing.
The gods that we look to
to save and rescue us,
to give us peace
and meaning
and security in life,
are bloodthirsty
and hard to appease.
But in the gospel,
we discover
the eternal God,
the uncreated one,
the one who doesn't demand
of us
our blood,
our sweat,
and our tears,
but the one who gave
of His own.
Friends,
don't you see
that we don't need
to create a God
because God has come to us.
He's come to show us
what He's really like.
He's come to free us
from the delusions
that false gods bring,
the half-truths
that we tempted to trust in.
He's come to bring us
the reality
of who God is.
But He's also come
to give us
the peace that we long for.
He's come to give us joy.
He's come to set us free
from shame.
He's come to give us
a hope,
a living hope
that can never perish
or spoil or fade.
He's come to give us
a rock-solid identity
as He says,
my sons,
my daughters,
I love you.
You are chosen in me.
In John's gospel,
John introduces Jesus
and he says that
He's the eternal,
uncreated God.
He's the one
through whom
everything exists.
Everything in this world
comes into existence
because of Jesus.
And then John introduces Jesus
and says,
in Him is life.
And the life that was in Him
is the light of the world,
the light of all mankind.
The false gods
that we so easily
tempted to hope
and trust in
promise us life,
but they deliver
anything but life.
They promise fullness
of life,
but actually they suck us
of life.
But in Jesus Christ,
friends,
we have true life.
Jesus came and He said,
I am the resurrection
and life.
John writes His gospel,
He says,
I write these things
that you may believe
in Him
and experience life.
Jesus says,
I am the bread of life.
Jesus came
and in John 17,
He's praying
to His Father
and He says,
Father,
this is eternal life
that they may know You
and the Christ
that You've sent.
Friends,
Jesus,
the author of life,
came to die,
to lay down His life
that we who deserve death
may find fullness of life.
But not only that,
John not only says
that in Jesus
do we find life,
fascinatingly,
he says,
in Jesus,
we also find grace
and truth.
In John chapter 1,
he says,
the law came through Moses,
but grace and truth
came through Jesus.
You see,
these false idols
and the gods
that we tempted
to trust in,
the images of God
that we make up,
they lie to us.
They promise us life,
but they take life.
They promise us control
and they end up
controlling us.
In Jesus Christ,
we have the truth.
Jesus came to show us
what God is truly like.
He came to reveal
the Father to us.
In John,
he says,
anyone that has seen me
has seen the Father.
We don't need to be deluded
by a false version
of who God is,
even a version
that is 70% true.
When we've seen Jesus,
we've seen the true reality
of who God is.
But Jesus doesn't only show us
the truth about who God is,
he also tells us
the truth about ourselves.
He tells us
that we are lost.
He tells us
that we're not really
in control of our lives.
Jesus tells us
that the more we think
we're in control of our lives,
the more lost we actually are.
Jesus comes
and he tells us the truth
that our sin is a problem.
A problem that is
going to cost us our lives.
Jesus tells us the truth
that our independence from him
is actually
an act of rebellion.
An act for which
we'll be held accountable.
An act for one day
which we're going to face judgment.
But Jesus doesn't only come
and bring us the truth.
He also brings us grace.
You see,
the problem with the false gods
that we attempted
to trust and hope in,
is that while they promise us
so much,
the moment we fail them,
they'll accuse you
and tell you
that you're a failure
and that you're miserable.
Just think about the person
that loves and serves
beyond all else,
that hopes and trusts
in their children's success.
That for them,
the success of their children
is their meaning
and purpose in life.
What happens
when your children rebel?
What happens
when your children
don't do what you want?
What happens
when your children
don't follow
your intended plan
and path for their lives?
You feel like a failure.
What happens
when your God
that you hope and trust
in is your career development,
your path,
and you lose your job?
You don't just feel bad.
You feel worthless.
You feel like a failure.
Friends,
Jesus says that all of us
fail Him from time to time.
We all sin.
We've all fallen short
of His standards of glory.
But Jesus Christ
doesn't point the finger
showing us what a failure we are.
Jesus comes
and He lifts us up.
And Jesus is not only truth
but grace.
Jesus came to die on the cross,
to have His hands smashed with nails,
to have blood and water
poured out of the side.
Jesus came to hang on the cross
to take our failures upon Himself.
Jesus came to take our death
that we may find life.
Friends,
Jesus is not only
the one true God,
the one by whom
and through whom
all things were made.
He's not only
the exact representation of God,
not only does He come
and give us life and truth,
He comes to give grace
to sinners like you and me,
to idolaters like us.
Friends,
in Jesus Christ
we have the one true God,
the eternal God,
the uncreated God,
the one who is sovereign
and majestic.
And yet Jesus didn't hold on
to His godliness.
He didn't grasp
at equality with God.
But He came
and He humbled Himself,
taking on the form
of a servant.
And being a servant,
what would He do?
He would lay down His life,
taking on death,
the excruciating death
of a cross,
for you and I,
that we might know Him,
that we might know His life,
that we might experience
His peace,
His freedom,
His joy.
Friends,
this Jesus Christ alone
is worthy of our worship,
indeed worthy of our very lives.
Do not make an idol for yourself
in the shape of anything,
in the heavens above,
the earth below,
or in the waters below.
Turn to Jesus,
the one true God,
and find your hope
in Him.
Let's pray together.
Father,
oh Jesus,
we come before You
this morning
because You,
God,
have life
because we so need You.
Father,
just a few minutes ago,
we reflected
on the things
that we are tempted
to hope and trust in.
the things
that promise us
security,
the things
that promise us
joy and peace.
Father,
we want to bring
those things
before You
this morning.
We want to
acknowledge them,
but we also
want to repent of them.
We want to turn
from those things
and turn to You.
Father,
in my own life,
I am so aware
that people's approval
and what people
think of me
is often
the driving force
in my life.
God,
so often,
I love the glory
that comes from man
more than the glory
that comes from You.
I love the praise
and the affirmation
from people
more than the affirmation
that comes from You.
Father,
I acknowledge
that I feel
safe and secure
if I think people
are pleased with me
rather than knowing
my security
is in You.
Father,
in my life
and in all of our lives,
there are deep-seated
things that we hope
and trust in.
Christ,
won't You come
and deliver us
from those things?
won't You come
and save us?
Won't You come
and set us free?
Father,
this morning,
we want to turn
from those things
and turn to You.
We confess
that sometimes
we don't even know
how to do it
and so the first step,
God,
is to
confess
and repent.
Father,
forgive us.
Forgive us,
God.
Father,
we ask that You
don't just forgive us,
You also change us,
God.
You change us,
Lord.
God,
won't You make us
more like You?
Won't the life of God,
the life of heaven
infuse our souls
and our bodies
and our hearts,
God.
God,
won't You break
the power
of sin and darkness
as we sang earlier,
break the power
of these idols
in our life
and set us free,
God.
Set us free.
God,
I pray that for some of us,
even right now,
we'll experience
a freedom in our life.
that,
God,
this afternoon,
we'll be a different person
to who we were
this morning
because that which
has controlled our life
will be set free,
God.
I pray,
Father,
for freedom.
God,
as we turn from these things
to You,
God,
won't You change us?
God,
come and bring freedom now,
Lord.
As we repent
and turn from these things
and turn to You,
God,
we pray for Your freedom.
We pray for Your joy.
We pray,
God,
for anxiety
and despondency
to flee
and pray for joyness
and fullness of life
to come.
Christ,
come and have Your way.
Come and be our God.
God,
come and be our real God,
not just in word,
but reality in our hearts.
Come and be our only God.
We pray.
We pray these things
in Your name.
Amen.