We are here in Exodus chapter 20 and we are talking about the topic of idolatry. This first sermon is really about what is idolatry and what is not idolatry, and the second sermon is really about the wickedness of idolatry. The reason why I am preaching a full sermon on what idolatry actually is: when you go into the ministry, you will have people that send you emails. People that get saved, maybe they grew up Catholic, they are trying to make changes in their life, and they will start taking pictures of things around their house and asking — is this idolatry? They will send you a picture of a magnet with an animal on it or a stuffed animal. These are honest, good-hearted people who want to make changes but are really not sure what God is okay with and what he is not okay with. All of us realise idolatry is wicked, but I am not sure we have really stopped to think about where the line is on what is acceptable and what is not.

Notice what it says in Exodus 20:1: "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Verse 3 is your first commandment. Verse 4: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 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 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." Verses four through six are the second commandment.

Now some of the commandments are just really short, like thou shalt not kill — but you cannot take that too literally. Does that mean self-defence is wrong? What God is doing is giving Moses a basic summary of ten commandments that represent everything, but you have to use common sense and look at the entire Bible to understand it. Thou shalt not kill — then why is there a death penalty? Why do you believe in self-defence if you are not supposed to kill? We understand the context from everything the Bible says, and some of the commandments are just a short summary and you have to use the entire Bible to understand what is actually being said.

Now the reason the Catholic Church changes the order of the Ten Commandments is to justify idolatry, because their religion is full of it. From the Catholic Church's website, their first commandment is: I am the Lord your God, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Their second commandment: you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. But what the Bible shows us is that is actually the third commandment. So the Catholic Church has effectively removed the second commandment — thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image — by combining it with the first. To compensate for having only nine commandments left, they split the tenth commandment on coveting into two separate commandments: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, and thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.

But notice Exodus 20:17: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." Does it not make sense to summarise all of that as thou shalt not covet? And would it really make a lot of sense to have a commandment against committing adultery and then two commandments later say thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife — when that is very similar to the earlier commandment? The Catholic manipulation of the Ten Commandments exists simply to justify idolatry.

Two Interpretations of the Second Commandment

Going back to verse 4, there are basically two interpretations of these verses. I will be completely honest with you — you would actually find a lot of different Baptist preachers you respect who have different opinions on this. So what I would tell you is: study the Bible for yourself. I will show you what we believe and teach, but I just want you to realise that different good people believe this a little bit differently.

If you do not believe one hundred percent like me on where I would draw the line of idolatry, that is okay. I might mention things I say are inappropriate and idolatrous, and you might say there is nothing wrong with it — let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Or you might say I am not being strict enough, and that is okay too. If you are more strict than me, it is not a competition to see who can be the most strict.

One interpretation is that we should not make any graven image whatsoever, and in addition to that, not bow down to any image that is made. The other interpretation is: do not make any graven image in the context of something that is going to be worshipped. What Verity Baptist Church has always taught is the second interpretation. We do not say and teach that every wooden sculpture is idolatry. That has never been the position of Verity Baptist Church, and I am going to show you why.

Go to Exodus 25. In Exodus 20 God commanded do not make any graven image — and what I believe that is saying is in the context of something that would be worshipped. So if you are holding a little wooden horse or a wooden cow, that would not be idolatry. But if you are creating something to worship, that would be idolatry. Now, let us say for the sake of argument the first interpretation is correct — that anything you make is idolatry. Notice what it says in Exodus 25:16–18: "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat." A cherubim is basically an angelic being — something in heaven above. So if in Exodus 20 God is saying every single graven image is idolatry and wrong, why does he command them five chapters later to make an image of something in heaven above? That would be very confusing. As I said, the Ten Commandments are not 100% comprehensive of every single situation — they give a summary and you have to use the whole Bible to understand the context and what God was bringing across.

In Exodus 20 the command do not make a graven image is, in my understanding, in the context of bowing down and worshipping it. Exodus 25:18 commands them to make a cherubim of gold, which would be a graven image — but they are not worshipping that cherubim of gold. If they had started worshipping it, he would have said smash it and get rid of it.

Go to Proverbs 25. You might say, well, Brother Stucky, if you say it is okay to make an image as long as you do not worship it, is that not exactly what the Catholics say? It is what the Catholics say — but what is the difference? The Catholics worship and pray to those saints. They hold their little Santo Niño or rosary beads and think it has some sort of magical power. There is a big difference. I am just saying if you tell a Catholic that their church is full of idolatry and they say, well, look at all those animals on the magnets on your fridge — look at that wooden statue of a horse you have — what is the difference? You have to be able to answer them. And what I am saying is it is actually okay to have a picture of an animal, whether it be in wood, stone, print, or on YouTube, as long as it is not being worshipped. That is where the line is.

Now there is a word in the Bible that appears three times — the word pictures. In our modern day we have cell phones and pictures are taken all the time, but when you are seeing picture or pictures in the Bible it is more like a drawing, a painting, or a sculpture. This word appears three times in the King James Bible.

Proverbs 25:11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." A word fitly spoken means a word given at the right time — for example, you give the gospel, or somebody is feeling discouraged and you encourage them. According to Proverbs 25:11, this is a good thing. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. This is a good thing. No question about it.

Go to Numbers 33. Numbers 33:50–52: "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places." The word pictures is linked with molten or graven images, linked with idolatry. But notice — in Proverbs 25:11, pictures is clearly a good thing. In Numbers 33:52, pictures is linked with idolatry.

Can you see the difference? There is a difference between a picture of a soul-winning event or a family photo, and a picture of a false Hindu god. There is a big difference between those. This is idolatry. The other is not. And the reason I am saying this is because some people feel guilty — they think they need to be super strict, they cannot let their kids have any stuffed animal or anything like that because it is idolatry. What I am trying to show you is that is not actually what the Bible says. You are allowed to have a stuffed animal as long as you are not bowing down and worshipping it. There is a big difference between a kid having a stuffed animal that gives them comfort to fall asleep at night and basically an idol that they are bowing down to, feeding, and giving a bath to.

Idolatry has nothing to do with having a t-shirt with an elephant on it. You can take your kids to the zoo and buy them a shirt with animals on it. When I was a kid I had a lot of shirts with wolves or tigers because I thought they were beautiful animals. There is nothing wrong with that. Kids love animals. Just be mindful to tell them, hey, is it not amazing what God created? But do not buy the Ganesh shirt — the Hindu god. There is a big difference between those two shirts. One is not idolatry. The other is.

Our house is full of stuffed animals because kids like stuffed animals. There is nothing wrong with your kids having a teddy bear. There is nothing wrong with that. Now if they had a little Ganesh elephant bear or whatever, that would be wrong. This, on the other hand, is just a stuffed animal. If you disagree and think I am being lenient on idolatry, I would encourage you to listen to the second sermon and you will be shocked at what really goes on with idolatry. But what I am saying is there is nothing wrong with this, and I am just showing you what we believe as a church.

You know we have things like a ball with an octopus on one side and a bull on the other — all things in my house. There is nothing inherently wrong with having an animal on an object. It is funny actually, because on our way to soul-winning yesterday I literally saw somebody wearing a shirt with a cow on it, and I thought: that is not wrong. There is actually nothing wrong with having a shirt with a cow or a calf on it. The problem is if you were to worship it — that is where it becomes wrong.

And how about the piggy bank? You have to be consistent. If you are going to say all images of anything in heaven above or in the earth beneath is wrong, you need to think carefully. What is your line? Because you do not actually believe every graven image is wrong. If you had a wooden piggy bank as a kid, are you saying that was idolatry? What I am saying is an easy line that makes sense is: something that is not spiritual in nature. Now I would personally also draw the line at the cross or the Jesus fish, because those are spiritual in nature. You might disagree, and honestly that is fine. Most Baptist churches I have gone to had a wooden cross carved in the pulpit. It did not bother me — I understand people have different opinions on where they draw the line. I would not do it at our pulpit, but it is not the end of the world if you have a different opinion.

And the chess knight — if you take the stand that every graven image is wrong, you need to retire from chess immediately. Because this is the likeness of something in the earth beneath. I am just stating: be consistent. If your line is stricter than mine, I am perfectly okay with that. But if you say you are against all images and then make exception after exception after exception, you need to figure out what your actual rule is.

Go to Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2:16: "And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures: and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish." Once again, pictures are being linked with something wicked and idolatry. But once again the Bible was very clear in Proverbs 25:11 that this is a good thing. What I am saying is there is a difference between some of these pictures. The same word can be used for something good and something bad depending on the context.

Go to Numbers 21. Let me give you a couple of other illustrations of where I would draw the line. These are pictures I would be against. Any very poor representation of what Jesus looked like — I would be against that. If God wanted us to know what Jesus looked like, we would know. Is it not interesting how we know what Julius Caesar looked like, who lived before Jesus? We do not really know exactly what Jesus looked like. He definitely did not look like the long-haired European representation. I would be against any representation of God. We should not have that. However, a picture of David and Goliath — David is not God, Goliath is not God, it is just a picture of an event in the Bible. I would not be against pictures from the Bible outside of anything involving Jesus.

What I would say to Catholics is: Acts 17:29: "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Do not make an image of your God. Do not make an image of Jesus — because that is God. Now if it is a picture of an event in the Bible that does not involve Jesus or God the Father, I see nothing in the Bible that would state that is wrong.

Numbers 21:6: "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Verse 9: "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." This Brazen Serpent looked to Jesus — it represents Jesus on the cross.

Go to John 3. John 3:14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." That Brazen Serpent represented Jesus Christ. If they physically looked upon that serpent they would live physically, and it represents the spiritual — the fact that Jesus did all the work for us. All we have to do is just look and live, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is the thing: there was nothing sinful about that Brazen Serpent in what we just read. It is perfectly fine. You say, but it is a graven image, it is the likeness of something. Yes — but it was not being worshipped.

Go to 2 Kings 18. 2 Kings 18:1–4: "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 also was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan." He tore down all the images, the groves, the high places — all of this wicked idolatry. But he also got rid of the Brazen Serpent. Why? Because now it is idolatrous. They have turned it into an idol.

There is nothing inherently sinful about a Brazen Serpent. But all of a sudden they are bowing down to it, burning incense before it, and somehow giving their prayers to that Brazen Serpent thinking it is going to get them in touch with God. That is idolatry. But it was not idolatry before — it was just an image of something that was not being worshipped. Now they have crossed the line.

If you see your kids start to worship the piggy bank — smash it. That is idolatry. If they are not worshipping it, it is not idolatry. That is where the line is, at least that is the line I draw, and it is the line I think you see in the Bible. If it is not being worshipped, it is not idolatry. If it is being worshipped, it is idolatry.

Go to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12:26–28: "And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

To give some context: Solomon dies, the kingdom splits, and Jeroboam gets the ten northern tribes while Rehoboam keeps Judah. Jeroboam is worried that if his people keep going down to Jerusalem to worship, their hearts are going to turn back to Rehoboam's kingdom and he will be destroyed. So he makes two calves of gold and tells the people it is too much for you to go all the way to Jerusalem — here is your god. It is always a calf, always the cow. In Egypt their primary animal of worship was the calf too. Nothing new under the sun. Which is why in Exodus when they make a golden calf it is such a slap in the face of God — they are essentially saying Egypt had the right religion.

Jeroboam sets one calf in Bethel — the house of God, a spiritual place — and the other in Dan, which is the most wicked area. And it says, "this thing became a sin." Because they are now worshipping this object. But what I am saying is there is nothing inherently sinful about a calf or even a gold calf. There is nothing inherently different between a gold calf or a gold horse or a gold giraffe. It is an animal. It becomes a sin because they are actually worshipping it. That is the problem.

Go to Amos 8. Amos 8:14: "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth." This is the golden calf put in Dan, and the people are saying thy god, O Dan, liveth — basically believing that praying to this object would help heal them. It is kind of like Catholics going to the Feast of the Black Nazarene and thinking that if they just touch that statue their cancer is gone. They think there is a magical power to it. They think it is alive. They think they can pray to it and draw close to God by worshipping this statue. That is idolatry.

But if you just had a t-shirt with a calf on it, I am saying there is nothing wrong with that. If you are bowing down to that shirt and worshipping it, yeah, that is idolatry. But not every single animal or magnet or sticker is idolatrous. It is only if you are worshipping it, if you are making it spiritual in nature.

Responding to Catholic Idolatry

Go to Acts 17. This sermon is about literal idolatry. I am aware there can be symbolic idolatry — somebody will say, wow, you have got that poster on the wall of whatever athlete, that is idolatry. But it is not literal idolatry of worshipping and bowing down. There is symbolic idolatry of the heart. I am talking about literal idolatry, because that is a massive sin in the Bible. I am saying your piggy bank, as long as you are not worshipping it or thinking there is some magical charm to it, is not idolatry. It is just an object that kids have to put coins into.

Now what is your answer to Catholics? Because Catholics would actually say a lot of what I said — they would say it is not wrong to make an image as long as you do not worship it. And I would actually agree with them on that. But here is the difference: they are being dishonest when they say they do not worship those images. Tim Staples, one of the leaders in Catholic apologetics and arguably the most famous Catholic apologist, says on his YouTube channel: the Catholic Church does not believe any statue or image has any power in and of itself. The beauty of statues and icons move us to the contemplation of the word of God as he is himself or as he works in his saints.

Do you see what he said? The beauty of this statue is going to cause you to draw close to God. I do not need to read my Bible, I do not need to pray — I just need to be in front of the statue and it draws me close to God. Yeah, that is idolatry. You believe there is a magical power behind it that is going to draw you close to God. That is not what the Bible says. That is idolatry. And the Catholic Church prays to the saints — do not tell me those statues on Quiapo Street are not idolatry. They pray to those saints, they think those saints can help them get rid of their sins and draw close to God. When you are hanging onto those rosary beads or the Santo Niño or whatever — it is idolatry. You think there is something magical inside it and somehow it is going to draw you close to God.

There is an old video online where a Catholic church had four older men carrying a statue of Mary on a platform in a procession. It started to slip off the shoulder of one of the men, and Mary smashed into the ground in a million pieces. Now when I accidentally break something at home, I think — ah, that cost me some money. That was not the reaction of their church. The reaction was absolute horror. My God is dead. That is idolatry. If it is just a piece of wood or metal, why do you act like it is the end of the world? Because your attitude is: my God liveth. And now all of a sudden it is smashed. That is idolatry.

Acts 17:24–25: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." My God does not need me to feed him. My God does not need me to give him a milk bath like they do in India. Verse 29: "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Do not make an image of your God. Do not make an image of Jesus.

Conclusion

What I would say to Catholics is: your own Catholic apologists have said those statues draw you close to God. They are trying to avoid saying that directly because they want to attract Protestants and Baptists, but their own words reveal it. And that is idolatry — because it is not what the Bible says.

Now I am not preaching this so that when you go soul-winning today you go out and criticise Catholics. Probably over half of the people in this room were raised Catholic, and the reason you are not Catholic today is because you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and believed on Christ. This is not me saying Catholics are dumb. I think everybody just worships they know not what when they grow up. You just do what you were taught growing up. How do we reach Catholics? By the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not by bashing them over their idolatry.

If you go to your Catholic relatives for Christmas, you do not have to mock them for their idols in their house. Just ignore it. If you want to reach those relatives, show them what Jesus did — he died, he paid for your sins, he is offering you a free gift that lasts forever, and all you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ. We see many Catholics change just by the simple gospel and message of Jesus Christ.

In 2014 my wife and I were going soul-winning in Pampanga and my wife was taking a video of the conversation. I talked to a man named Julius Amoyo, and because at the time I did not speak Tagalog, my wife came over and got him saved in Tagalog. When we were done he pulled out his Santo Niño and told my wife: now that I have Jesus, I do not need this anymore. I still remember his name — it was a very memorable conversation. Immediately he just knew. Now I am not saying every Catholic immediately has that comprehension, but what I am saying is if a Catholic gets saved and has the Holy Spirit of truth inside them, they start reading the Bible and they are going to start realising there is something wrong with the Catholic Church. How do we reach them? By the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see this topic of idolatry. I ask you to help us understand the spirit in which this is given. If people disagree I understand — it is okay for us to have different opinions. Help everyone who is not sure to search the scriptures for themselves and figure out what they believe the Bible teaches. Help us to reach the unsaved Catholics and unsaved people of every religion here in this country. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.