SCRIPTURE READING: Romans 1:1-32
GOLDEN TEXT:: Exodus 20:4-6  

1. Who was it that verbally spoke to Moses and the children of Israel? (Exodus 20:1). Did the Lord God bring Israel out of bondage? (Exodus 20:2). What did God do to keep the children of Israel free from bondage? He gave them His Ten Commandments.

2. Did God command His people not to make any graven or carved images or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or beneath the earth, or under the water of the earth? (Exodus 20:4).

Note: The definition of "graven" is: "to carve or shape with a chisel (a sculpture), to carve, engrave or cut (as letters or figures) into a hard surface." Did Israel worship an idol shortly after they were given the Ten Commandments? (Exodus 32:1-35; Acts 7:41).

The definition of an "idol" is: "a representation or symbol of an object of worship; a likeness of something or a form or appearance visible but without substance, an object of extreme devotion such as a false god or a movie idol."

3. What are we not to do with graven images or idols? (Exodus 20:5).

Note: We are not to bow down to them nor serve them. Why? Because the LORD your God is a jealous God!

4. Is there a blessing of mercy if we keep God’s Commandments? (Exodus 20:6).

5. Did the people see God when the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai? (Deuteronomy 4:15-31).

Note: Since the people saw no similitude or form of God when the Ten Commandments were given then they could not imitate, sketch, draw, sculpt or make a picture of God. How could they make a graven image of something they had never seen? What was the penalty if someone had looked at or gazed upon God? (Exodus 19:21). Is it acceptable to God for mankind to worship fish, bugs and beetles? (Deuteronomy 4:18). Is it acceptable to worship the sun, the moon and the stars and to serve them? (Deuteronomy 4:19).

Note: Horoscopes is a form of worship of the sun, moon and stars. Astrologers use diagrams of the relative positions of planets and signs of the zodiac at a specific time (as at one's birth) in inferring individual character and personality traits and in foretelling events of a person's life.

6. Did the apostle Paul warn the Church of God in Rome about the wrath of God? (Romans 1:18). Did this wrath have to do with people worshiping the creation rather than the Creator? (Romans 1:23-25).

Note: Everyone should be able to determine what has been created and realize that this is not the Creator. Perhaps by looking at the creation we can understand something about the Creator who made it and understand that the Creator is greater than His creation.

7. Did God give them up for their vile passions? (Romans 1:26-32). Does this passage remind you of today’s world with its sins, transgressions, iniquities and sexual perversions? Notice the following phrase is from the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:5): "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me."

Note: The sins that we commit affect our families and our children. Adultery can lead to divorce, break-up of the home, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. People on drugs can become addicted and you could even fry your brain. People selling drugs can end up serving "jail time." This is only a sample of all of the consequences of sin that can happen to you that can affect your family and your children down to the third and fourth generations.

8. What evil abominable thing did the children of Judah do in God’s sight? (Jeremiah 7:28-31).

Note: The children of Judah mingled the worship of Tophet with the worship of God and offered their children in the fire, as the pagans did, thinking that it would please God.

9. Did the prophet Jeremiah record that God does not want His people to learn the way of the heathen Gentiles? (Jeremiah 10:2-10).

Note: Jeremiah relates in this passage that people would cut a tree from the forest, decorate it with silver and gold, fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will stand upright. Notice that he said to "not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good." We could apply this passage in today’s world to the Christmas tree and realize that God through Jeremiah says in verse 8 that this is a "wooden idol" and is a worthless doctrine.

10. It was common among the Gentile nations that they didn’t worship just one god - they worshiped many gods. Did Egypt worship many gods? (Exodus 12:12). Are God’s people to make covenants with other gods? (Exodus 23:32-33). How many gods are God’s people to worship? (Exodus 20:3).

11. Did God want Israel to destroy the idols and altars of the gods of other nations? (Deuteronomy 12:1-5). Does God want man to bring the customs of other pagan gods into the worship of Him? (Verse 4). Are we to worship God in spirit and in truth? (John 4:23-24). Are we to add or subtract anything from God’s revealed word and what He has commanded us? (Deuteronomy 12:32).

12. What happens if you forsake the Living God and follow other gods? (Deuteronomy 12:29-32). Will you repent of your idol worship? (Revelation 9:20).

In Conclusion: God’s second commandment commands us not to make any kind of an image to worship, nor to bow down to it, nor serve it.

God’s second commandment shows that sin can affect the family for generations. This is why it was given, to protect you and your children. Are you willing to obey the Second Commandment?

1.) (Exodus 20:1-2 NKJV) And God spoke all these words, saying: {2} "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

5.) (Deuteronomy 4:15-31 NKJV) "Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, {16} "lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, {17} "the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, {18} "the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. {19} "And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. {20} "But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. {21} "Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. {22} "But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land. {23} "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. {24} "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. {25} "When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger, {26} "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. {27} "And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. {28} "And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. {29} "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. {30} "When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice {31} '(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

(Exodus 19:21 NKJV) And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.

8.) (Jeremiah 7:28-31 NKJV) "So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. {29} 'Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'

{30} "For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. {31} "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

9.) (Jeremiah 10:2-10 NKJV) Thus says the LORD: "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. {3} For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. {4} They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple. {5} They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good." {6} Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD (You are great, and Your name is great in might), {7} Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. {8} But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. {9} Silver is beaten into plates; It is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of the craftsman And of the hands of the metalsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of skillful men. {10} But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

10.) (Exodus 12:12 NKJV) 'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

(Exodus 23:32-33 NKJV) "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. {33} "They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

(Exodus 20:3 NKJV) "You shall have no other gods before Me.

11.)

(Deuteronomy 12:1-5 NKJV) "These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. {2} "You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. {3} "And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. {4} "You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things. {5} "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.

(John 4:23-24 NKJV) "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. {24} "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

(Deuteronomy 12:29-32 NKJV) "When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, {30} "take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' {31} "You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. {32} "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

(Revelation 9:20 NKJV) But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.