Cornerstone Bible Fellowship
20260913 Worship
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      • Psalm 96:11–13ESV

      • Psalm 35:27ESV

  • Are You Washed In The Blood (Washed In The Blood)
  • I Saw The Light
  • I'll Fly Away

      • Mark 10:46–52ESV

      • Mark 10:46-47ESV

      • Mark 10:48-50ESV

      • Mark 10:51-52ESV

      • Psalm 35:27ESV

  • Softly And Tenderly

      • Exodus 20:1-3ESV

      • Exodus 20:4ESV

      • Exodus 20:5-6ESV

  • Introduction
    It is natural for our imagination to create an image of something or someone we have not seen. And since God is invisible, it is natural for us to create within our minds, or in art and sculpture, images that are intended to represent Him. But do we ever see things with our own eyes in a way that is really not true?
    Artificial Intelligence has introduced a whole new level of distrusting what we’ve seen with out own eyes. I received a letter in the mail (yes, the post office still delivers paper mail) from one of our ministry partners. Behind me you can see how the letter was signed. Even this image has been altered since I received it. On my phone I circled the signature and removed it since I didn’t have permission to share. So what you see is NOT what I received is NOT what was approved by the sender.
    Entertainment regularly uses CGI - Computer Generated Imagery to put before the viewers eyes, images that do not really exist.
    “I saw it with my own two eyes”, is no longer a convincing proof of reality.
    The real God needs to really be worshipped, and ANY image that comes out of the mind of an artist will be incomplete, so the 2nd Commandment tells us...
    Exodus 20:4 ESV:2016
    “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.
    TRANSITION: God doesn’t bear any grudges against craftsmen or artists. When the Tabernacle is built He will command the people to seek out those proficient in these areas. But when it comes to how HE is depicted we must admit that there are...

    Limitations of Art (images)

    The problem with images made by our hands is that they cannot capture the glory of the Creator. All they can do is diminish Him, and that is why God tells us in this second commandment that we are not to make any images that are intended to represent Him.
    Some people say that they find icons, beads, or pictures of Jesus as helpful reminders. An image or icon may reflect part of the truth about God, but it will always obscure as much as it reveals. Our second great struggle is to properly worship our God, the majestic Creator and Lord, without diminishing Him to a little god.

    The limits of imagination

    Take Michelangelo's famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Creation of Adam, in which the finger of God reaches down to touch man. The painting communicates God's power, but it completely obscures His love. Nobody who looks at that picture could ever conclude that God is full of compassion.
    Pictures of Jesus in children's books usually have the opposite effect, giving the impression that Christ is weak, supine, and anemic.
    Many people wear or carry a crucifix showing an image of Jesus hanging on the cross. It shows that Jesus died for us, but it completely obscures the truth that He is no longer on the cross, that He has triumphed over death and is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory.
    Art and sculpture are wonderful gifts that can be used to capture the beauty and wonder of created things, but they cannot capture the glory of the Creator. Though they may appear to enhance our worship, their true effect can only be to diminish our thoughts about God.
    Just as Moses did not look like Charlton Heston, the God of the Bible is not shaped by your perceptions.
    At first sight this second commandment looks easy. Right now, you're probably not struggling with an overwhelming temptation to rush into the garage and shape a piece of wood to be used as an object of worship. But the second commandment goes deeper than issues of icons, art, and sculpture. God is so great that even our best thoughts about Him fall far short of grasping His glory. That's why worship is the second great struggle of your life.

    The limit of Human thought

    God is greater than your highest thought about Him. You cannot reduce Him to a system of logical thought. You cannot confine Him to the narrow boundaries of your experience. Nothing in creation can represent the Creator. "To whom will you compare me or count me equal?" God asks His people, "To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?" (Isaiah 46:5).
    We cannot find Him or know Him through a self-initiated spiritual search, but God has made Himself known in the Scriptures and has come near to us in Jesus Christ. We know Him not by cultivating our imagination, but by believing His revelation.

    There are different Levels of Affection

    In the first commandment, God calls us to embrace Him unconditionally. In the second commandment, God calls us to embrace Him in reality.
    The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life 2. Your Struggle with Worship

    In his book

    The five statements take us all the way from ownership to worship. They move from things that are to be used to the One who is to be worshiped. Let's take a closer look at the spectrum.
    My Boots: I choose my boots because I like the way that they look...If I tire of my boots, or if they wear out, I can replace them. My boots help me avoid pain, but if they ever give me pain, I will dispose of them instantly.
    My Dog: A dog can guard your property and help you to get some exercise. There are all kinds of uses for a dog, but a man who treats a dog in the same way as he treats his boots would be a disgrace. A relationship of loyalty is involved here. The dog is more than the boots.
    My Wife: A man who cannot tell the difference between "my wife" and "my boots" is in serious trouble. If "I choose my wife because I like the way that she looks, because she fits my style, and because she is comfortable for me to be with. If I tire of my wife, or if she wears out, I can replace her." If you think your relationship to your spouse is like your relationship to your shoes, I’m willing to counsel you but I don’t hold out much hope unless thinking changes.
    My Country: Here we move even further away from ownership. I do not own my country. My country is far bigger than I am, and I owe patriotism to the country to which I belong. In the great words of President John Kennedy, I am not to ask what my country can do for me; I am to ask what I can do for my country.
    My God: Here we come to a relationship of worship in its purest form. But here's the problem: Some folks can't tell the difference between "my God" and "my boots."
    Our God is NOT your personal possession. There is a popular song on Christian radio where the artist sings, “Let me tell you about my Jesus.” A person may avoid Christianity because their image of Jesus is errant, but any one artist’s Jesus is also less than the full glory of the incarnate Word of God, the 2nd person of the Trinity.
    To prove that I’m not picking on one particular artist or style, I’ll even step back into a famous hymn written in 1862 so it predates ANY Christian radio. William Fetherston wrote “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” Would you still love the Jesus revealed in the Scriptures, even if He didn’t resemble the Jesus in your mind?
    TRANSITION: I hope you DO have a personal relationship with Jesus so that you call Him, “my Jesus”. But I also hope you are not settling for your current image, but are pressing in to get to know Him better. When we settle for an incomplete picture of our God we slip into the...

    The Prevalence of Idolatry

    Worshiping What Should Be Used

    Idolatry takes a thing that is to be used and puts it in the place of the One who is to be worshiped. It might be my truck, my house, my career, my sports, my sexuality, my money, my family, or my country. All of these are good gifts from God, but when created things take the place of the Creator, they become idols.
    Most important, you need to know what your own life is for. You are a special creation of Yahweh made in His image and for His glory. That's why the way to find and fulfill your greater purpose is to become a worshiper of Him.

    Using What Should Be Worshiped

    The second dimension to idolatry is attempting to use the One who should be worshiped. When Yahweh invites us into a relationship with Him, the instinctive response of our fallen nature is to think that a relationship with God could be very useful.
    We are never in more danger of seeing God as a resource to be used than when we come to Him in prayer. Somewhere deep within our hearts lurks the idea that if God really loves us, He is under an obligation to give what we ask and that if we ask in faith, He really owes it to us to come through. That's idolatry. Prayer is not a tool for manipulating God. True prayer is offered in the name of Jesus Christ, and that means that it can only be offered in submission to His will.

    Three Reasons to Avoid Idols

    Idols Are Offensive

    Exodus 20:5 ESV:2016
    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God...
    The reason God gives for not bowing down to idols is that He is who He is, and He does not want you or me pretending that He is whatever we want Him to be. That would be deeply offensive.
    This is a message that our postmodern culture desperately needs to hear. God is not whoever we want Him to be. God is who He is and that's why we are not to make idols by projecting our own ideas and desires onto Him.
    The second commandment is a good test of your response to the first commandment. Embracing God unconditionally (the first commandment) means embracing Him as He is (the second commandment). If the god you worship is a god of your own making, you are not worshiping Yahweh, but a collection of your own ideas.

    Idols are Destructive

    Exodus 20:5 ESV:2016
    ...I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
    The word “visiting” may be translated as “intervening”. When we introduce ungodly idols into our lives, the effects of sin often become generational. [addiction, broken covenants, abuse] Because God is a redeemer, He finds Himself stepping into the effects of sin that often manifest generations later.

    Idols Are Useless

    The twentieth century in America saw the attempted dethroning of God and the enthroning of the individual in our society. We put ourselves in the place of God. But having put ourselves in the place of God, we are left with no place to turn in times of trouble. We are alone with no hope or help beyond ourselves.
    Thursday of this past week the podcast of World Magazine reported on a July 29, 2026 military instruction. Military Chaplains in Canada (not the officers, but the CHAPLAINS) are now prohibited from mentioning God or prayer in public situations.
    This humanist spirituality is useless, when one has the option of calling upon the name of the Lord.

    God's Image in Christ

    Exodus 20:6 ESV:2016
    but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
    The reason God places such importance on us not making images to represent Him is that nothing should detract from the one true image of God that we have in Jesus Christ.
    God jealously excludes every other image because it is through the one true image that He has made Himself known. God has taken human flesh and entered the world, making Himself known in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one true image of the invisible God. He is the exact representation of God's being (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). That is why Jesus could say, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
    Nothing created can lead you to the Creator.
    You won't find your way to God through an idol.
    You won’t find your way to God through a pyramid or a crystal.
    But you can come to God through Jesus, in whom God has drawn near to you. If you will embrace Him, He will embrace you, and that is where eternal life begins.
    Conclusion:
    Are you willing to believe Jesus is God in the flesh and declare Christ as the only way to God? Then expect opposition on earth. Let God be the "I am who I am," and some will call you intolerant, arrogant, or even a bigot.
    But others will consider the words of Christ and because of your declaration and the Spirit's power believe the no-holds-barred words of Jesus: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). No matter people's responses, we are to honor the name of the one true God.
    No matter how objective you try to be, your mental picture of God is less than who He truly is. Because the best that we can imagine is still less, we long for the day when the redeemed will be present in His REAL presence and we will worship Him for who He is. I long for the day when my worship of our God will truly be complete.
    Closing Song #463..................... “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder”

      • Exodus 20:4KJV1900

      • Exodus 20:5KJV1900

      • Exodus 20:5KJV1900

      • Exodus 20:6KJV1900

  • When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder

      • Philemon 25ESV

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