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Reads, thou shalt not raise a false report, but not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow multitude to do evil, and neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, what is forbear to help him? Thou shalt surely help with him. Thou shalt not rest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked. Thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous. Also, thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. At six years, thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. But the seventh year, thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner, thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard. Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day, thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect, and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. Three times, thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it thou camest out from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou has sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the year, all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the first fruits of thy land, thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not part in your transgressions, for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I'll be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and you shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. Thou shalt nothing cast their young nor be barren in thy land. The number of thy days I will fulfill. I will send my fear before thee and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land. And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me. For if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for everything you bless us with. Thank you for this church and for our pastor. Just ask that you would strengthen him now, and please just fill him with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your word unto us, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Exodus chapter 23 this morning, and look down at your Bibles at verse 24. It says, thou shalt not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. And the title of my sermon this morning is Iconoclasm in the Bible. Iconoclasm in the Bible. Iconoclasm is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other images or monuments, most frequently for religious or even political reasons. And those who participate in iconoclasm are known as iconoclast, and those who venerate or worship the images or icons are actually known as iconophiles, okay? And this is actually something that is not only popular in the Bible, we were gonna see this morning how important it is to break images and destroy idols and icons and that which would be considered a false god, but this is actually something that's happened throughout history, even within different sects of Christianity and religion. One of the most famous ones was instituted by an emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Leo III, who essentially made an edict between 730 and 737 AD, where he essentially issued a series of edicts against the veneration of images. So he basically told his empire, we're gonna get rid of all of the images in the churches, all of the icons and idols that are in all the churches, they're all gonna be destroyed. And one of the reasons he actually instituted that law is because of the fact that in those days prior to that, there was actually a volcanic eruption that ended up creating a tsunami that killed a lot of people, and he actually interpreted that as God's judgment for the veneration of idols. And so this man wasn't necessarily a Christian, he wasn't necessarily a saved person, we don't know what his doctrinal stance was on salvation. However, he understood, you know what, God's judging our land because we are worshiping false gods, we're worshiping idols, we're going against what the Bible says, and therefore he proposed this edict that got rid of all the icons in the church, and this is what's known as iconoclasm. And today, Catholics and Orthodox view this as a sin. They view iconoclasm as being sinful, they view iconoclasts as being a sinful individual for destroying images and idols that they venerate and worship. But let me just say this, is that we are an iconoclastic church. And the sermon that I'm gonna preach this morning is not necessarily for visitors, so if you're visiting with us today, of course we're thankful to have you. However, this is a sermon geared towards believers to educate Christians and believers on what the Bible says about specific issues in the Bible regarding idols, okay? And so we are an iconoclastic church. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, you know, I believe, and we're gonna look at this morning, that it's important to actually destroy idols and icons that represent false gods. And this is something that is clearly seen throughout the word of God. Idols should not be respected, icons should not be respected, they should be broken down and destroyed and burned. And in fact, a couple years ago, our church was still fairly new at the time, and so we had what was called an Idol-Burning Sunday. I had an inkling that people were keeping idols in their households, maybe because they came from orthodoxy or Catholicism, and so I promoted an Idol-Burning Sunday, not in this building, this is it, back in Omani, and everyone brought their idols. Now, some people just wanna participate, so they brought someone else's idols or something. They visited the 99 Cent Store or something and picked up the Virgin Mary or whatever was there. And we had a bonfire, and we threw the idols there, and we burned them all up, and we even had idols that kids can come and break with bats. You say, oh, man, that's a little extreme. Well, actually, that's biblical. And the kids had a fun time doing it. Now, the only problem is is that the person who was in charge of putting the gasoline on the fire was a little too zealous and threw in a little too many idols in at the time, and the entire church almost burned down. So then the fire department came, and we had already put out the fire, and when they came, I came out, I was like, well, what's the problem? Like, is there a fire? I'm like, no, not anymore. We're just having the Idol-Burning Sunday. They're like, all right, all these neighbors are coming out. But you know what? I think that's important, and especially to teach the following generation the importance of hating idols. And this is something that's very much biblical, and so we are an iconoclastic church. We do believe in iconoclasm. This is what the word of God teaches, that we should not respect idols and not view them as, well, the person who worships the idol thinks that they're worshiping Jesus Christ. They think that they're worshiping God, and they just worship him through this particular icon. But actually, that goes against the Bible. God specifically says not to do that. He instructs God's people not to worship him through images, graven images, carved images, so it's a violation of God's word. And as we see here in Exodus 23, verse 24, he tells God's people, as they're going into the Promised Land, hey, you gotta make sure that when you go in there, you destroy the idols, you break down the images, and you get rid of all of the false gods that are in the land. Look at verse, go to chapter 34, if you will, chapter 34. I'm gonna read to you from Exodus chapter 20, verse number three. It says, thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven 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. Thou shall 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, the Bible says. Verse 32 tells us, thou shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me. For if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Look at Exodus 34, and verse number 12. It says, take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, cut down their groves. For thou shall worship no other god. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. So what are people doing when they worship an idol, an icon? They're actually provoking the Lord to jealousy. Why? Because according to the Bible, he's not only jealous, the Bible says that his name is Jealous, clearly indicating and emphasizing the fact that he hates it when mankind worships any other god other than himself. He's not gonna share his glory with anyone else. It's not like, well, you can worship me as the God of the Bible, and I don't mind if you kinda add anyone else to that. That's perfectly fine. It's okay to have all of these other icons and idols. They all go the same way. It's all leading to the same God. It's all leading to the same heaven. No, God says, break them down because I'm jealous over you with the godly jealousy. Verse 15 says, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods. So one of the reasons why God says, hey, destroy those idols, break down the images, is because I don't want my people to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and what's the result of that? My people will end up worshiping false gods because of the influence of the inhabitants of the land. He says there, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods, thou shall make thee no molten gods. So what is he saying? You know, the end result of not destroying idols is that the lines of religious distinctions are blurred. God's people end up tolerating false gods, false religions, to the point where they end up participating in the religious rights of that false religion, and then the next generation ends up going apostate because of it, you understand? So God says, you know, it's important that right off the bat, you get rid of all of your idols, destroy all of the graven images, get rid of all of the altars, so they won't be a snare unto you for the coming generations, so that Christianity will be preserved, and obviously, that's not what they called it at this point, but this is essentially the same principle. In order to preserve Christian doctrine and the worship of the true God, you must get rid of the old gods, is what he's saying, okay? Now what does this mean for us? Well, you know, if you are a former Catholic, for example, it's important for you to go back home and get rid of all of the idols that you have in your household, so that there's no distinction, or excuse me, so that there's no confusion between the two, there's a clear distinction between Catholicism and Christianity. And you know what, you have people out there that wanna say, oh, Catholics are Christian. Wrong, my friends, Catholics are not Christian because they don't uphold the word of God as being the authority for all matters of faith and practice, they uphold the traditions of man. And they can tell you, oh, no, no, no, we believe in the Bible and the traditions of man, but hold on a second, where the Bible contradicts the traditions of man, they side with the traditions of man. Whereas if we uphold some sort of tradition as a Christian, as a Baptist church, what we do is we always compare it to God's word. And if it contradicts God's word, we go with God's word. Because God's word is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice. And so it's important that once you get saved, you get rid of all your religious icons and idols, you burn them, you destroy them, because you don't want the next generation to be raised up and think, oh, it's okay to have these, mom and dad just kind of worship God through these. They just think it's okay to have, oh, it has sentimental value or something like that. I miss that part in the Bible that says, destroy and break their images, unless it has sentimental value, go ahead, you can keep it. Now, what does this include? Well, I'm a former Catholic, so I know what I'm talking about. It includes crucifixes with Jesus Christ on there. That's an idol. That's literally, listen to me, a graven image, okay? That includes the rosary, which is a mini graven image, okay? That includes any image of the Godhead bodily. You understand? This includes any candles with the images of Jesus Christ on there. And it's just like, well, what's your beef with that? You know what I mean? I think it's okay to worship God through that. Well, you can think that, but God's not cool with that. So you can justify yourself and claim that you're worshiping God, but at the end of the day, that's not how God views it. And we need to have a biblical worldview. We need to view sin the way God views it. We need to obey Him and worship Him the way He has told us to do so, okay? Go to Deuteronomy chapter seven, if you would. Deuteronomy chapter number seven. Deuteronomy chapter number seven. Now, this concept in Exodus and Deuteronomy is often twisted to teach that, you know, or these passages that we're gonna look at are often twisted to say, you know, oh, God is against interracial marriages. How many of you have ever heard something like that? It's like, oh man, God hates it when people of different races mix together and marry into one another. And they'll use these passages as proof texts as to why, you know, a Mexican dude should not marry, I don't know, an Asian person or an Asian person should not marry a black person. We gotta keep the races separate. And people who claim to be Christian will often use passages like this, we're gonna look at right now, to try to prove that. Okay, but I'm gonna show you right now that that's not what it means. Look at verse number one of Deuteronomy seven. It says, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land where thou goest to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show them, excuse me, nor show mercy unto them. So there's your proof text right there. You know, God just hates certain races. He wanted them just completely eradicated, and that's why we shouldn't intermingle with them. Look at verse three. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter, thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. So it's basically forbidding marriages between these particular regions, cultures, nations. Verse four, why though? For they will turn away thy son from following me. So is this really about the color of the skin? No, it's about their belief. Because he's saying, if you marry into a Hivite, a Hivite has a different God. And once you marry into a different God, a family that believes in a different God, they're gonna turn your heart away from following the God of the Bible. Now look, if that Hivite gets saved and believes in the God of the Bible, that's a different story. But it's all about the belief system. This is why the Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, but what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, what concord hath Christ with Bileo, et cetera. He says in verse four, For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. So the command here is not to, oh, you can't marry into a different race because God's against mixing races. The command is don't marry into a different culture that serves a different God. If that culture promotes a false God, if it's promoting Buddhism, if it's promoting Hinduism, if it's promoting, yeah, Catholicism, then God says don't marry into that because you are gonna end up worshiping their way and worshiping their false gods and submitting to their religious rights, which is a complete violation of the Bible. You're displeasing God and God's gonna judge you for that. That's how jealous God is. He says, verse number five, But thus shall ye deal with them, ye shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. So in order to prevent people intermingling together from different belief systems, God said as soon as you go into the land, campaign number one, destroy all the images. Get rid of all of them. And you can see how tempting it could be for the Israelites to keep some of the images because some of them are made of gold, silver, precious stones. They're very beautiful to look upon. They are skillfully made. They're very wonderful looking, but at the end of the day, we gotta side with the word of God. It doesn't matter how much luster it has. It doesn't matter what sentimental value it carries. It needs to be destroyed, okay? And people think, well, I feel like I'm being disloyal to my family members or to the person that gave it to me if I do such a thing. Well, yeah, you are, because you're being loyal to God though. And God expects 100% loyalty to him. And so it's important that we destroy these images. Go to Psalm 97, if you would, Psalm 97. And you see this throughout the book of Exodus and Deuteronomy, God's constantly telling them, break down the images, cut down the groves, destroy their altars, don't let it be a snare unto you, don't marry into the religions that worship these false gods. In fact, don't even make mention of a false god, okay? He's just like, I don't wanna hear you talking about your past life, I don't wanna hear you talk about your false gods. And he even said, if someone comes to you privately and says, hey, let's go worship a false god, that person should be put to death, that's what he said. And in fact, he said, your hand should be the first one to smite him. That's how much he holds the people accountable to. Now obviously, that's not a law that's instituted today. Okay, just wanna make that very clear. You know, cause you just never know with people sometimes. But obviously, that's not something that we, that's commanded for us to do, because we are not under a theocracy. God isn't ruling over our nation, he's not instituting the laws of the land here in the United States of America. However, we can't extrapolate how much God hates idols based upon these stories here and based upon these commandments. And yeah, we can't put someone to death or whatever for worshiping a false god, and we can't just break into someone's home and just destroy their idols, but we can make sure idols stay out of our home, and we can make sure that idols stay out of God's church, and we can make sure that we have a proper disposition against idols and believe in iconoclasm, amen? Promote it and recognize we are an iconoclastic church, this is what God says, there's nothing wrong with breaking images, idols, icons, false gods, God is 100% for. Look at Psalm 97, and verse number seven says, confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols, worship him all ye gods. And one thing I've noticed is that a lot of these religions that have these idols, that have these icons, they boast themselves in these idols. They make those idols look beautiful, they carve them of gold and silver, but the Bible actually says in Acts chapter 17 that we ought not to think that the godhead is of stone and silver and gold, the Bible says, talking about how it's graven as man's art and man's device, God is not an image that should be worshiped, Jesus Christ should be worshiped, and the Bible says that they that worship him, listen to this, must worship him in spirit and in truth, not in idols and icons. You know, if you wanna worship God, you can worship him on your seat, where you're at, at home, no matter what geographical location you're in, you don't need to have a rosary in your hand, you don't need to have a crucifix by you, you don't need to have an icon of an image of Caesar Borgia on the wall, you can worship him with your lips, you can worship him with your mouth, and in fact, you can worship him even by reading the Bible. Now, let me say one more thing about this, as you're turning, go back to Exodus 32, if you would, go back to Exodus 32, is that obviously us as Baptists and Christians, we're not gonna get caught up in idolatry, worship, but you know what, secondary principles often apply to Baptists, where they can often take a superstitious, idolatrous view even of the physical Bible. And I come from a church that would do things like that, not everyone, but some people would have that view, where it's like, oh, don't put the Bible on the floor, because it's the Bible. Now, let me just make something very clear, and that is, I like to take care of my stuff. So I'm not gonna just put, like after the service, don't just put your Bibles on the floor just to make a point or something like that, you know what I mean? Like I'm not gonna be like, you know, throw it on the floor, because I wanna keep my Bible, I wanna keep it nice, and there's no need for it. But if I'm sitting on the floor or whatever, you know, the Bible falls on the floor, it's not like God's gonna strike me dead or something. Okay? Because it's the content of the Bible that matters. But you have Christians who literally like venerate the physical Bible itself, or it's just like, you know, they kind of view it almost like the Quran, where Muslims will literally have the Quran at the highest point in their household. Okay, I knew a Muslim, and he had the Quran, it was like the highest thing, closest to the ceiling than everything else, because he literally worshiped that physical book. And people can often have that superstitious view, where it's just like, well I'm gonna keep a holy Bible on my coffee table to ward off the spirits or something like that. If you're not reading the Bible, then it's meaningless. You know, in order for the Bible to actually work, you actually have to read it. And even further than that, you have to obey it. Right? You have to read it, obey it, preach it. It's not the physical pages that necessarily matters. You understand? It's not like it has power, you can't throw it at a vampire, or you know, a zombie or something like that, make it go away, and you know, it's not gonna burn them or something. I mean, if you throw it hard enough at someone, it's gonna, you know, it'll do something. But not because it has divine power. You understand what I'm saying? We never wanna take a superstitious view of the physical Bible itself and view it like an idol. Treat it as though it's an idol. We idolize Jesus Christ, and we idolize the content of the Bible, but the physical Bible itself, you know, that doesn't really matter. That's why, you know, if you wanna get a fancy Bible, it's still powerful. If you get a Bible from the Dollar Tree, I don't know if they still sell Bibles, but back in the day, they sold Dollar Bibles, KJV Bibles. You know, it's just paperback or whatever. It's just as powerful as the leather-bound one, because it's the content of the Bible that matters. And so, you know, we need to make sure that we draw the line, we make the distinction. Hey, let's not become idolatrous when it comes to, how about this? Don't become idolatrous when it comes to the building either. Oh, the place where thou sittest is holy ground or something like that. You know, this is office space. I don't know if you noticed that, okay? This is not, the physical building has no divine attribute to it. The church is the people, okay? We call this the church building, because this is where we meet, but the physical walls, the chairs, everything that you see in here, it's not like it has some sort of divine power or, you know, God's present here, when, you know, Monday through Sunday or something like that, you know what I mean? It's not like his presence is walking. This is not like the temple or the tabernacle of the Old Testament. You understand? You are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which you have of God, you understand? And the Holy Spirit indwells you, so we should never take a superstitious, idolatrous view of the building as well and think that it's holy ground, okay? And again, people have that view as well. They feel like the church building actually has some sort of divine attribute to it, an element to it, but it doesn't. Where do I have you turn? Exodus 32, stay there. I'm gonna read to you a couple verses here. First Thessalonians chapter one, verse number nine says, For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. First Corinthians 10, 14 says, Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. First John 5, 21 says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols, amen. Now, throughout the Bible, we see that God's constantly talking about the subject of idolatry, against it, and people may think, well, you know, the destruction of idols is only something in the Old Testament, but that's not a New Testament thing, though. You know, we shouldn't be doing that, because God hasn't specifically commanded to destroy idols in the New Testament. Well, let me ask you this. Has God specifically said not to destroy idols in the New Testament? No. So that's not something that's been repealed. You understand? So if something is commanded in the Old Testament, and he doesn't specifically take it away in the New, which there's plenty of the Old Testament that he did take away, then we should assume that it's still implemented in the New Testament. And why would God have to repeat himself in the New if he spent the entire Old Testament talking about it? It's just like, well, it doesn't say it in the New Testament yet, because he gave you an entire Old Testament talking about that. You know, don't let it go to waste. He put in a lot of work to tell you all those things in the Old Testament. Don't make him repeat himself. Deuteronomy is literally, it literally means the repeating of the law. So he said it in Exodus, and just in case you missed it, he repeated again in Deuteronomy. But you want Deuteronomy part two. It's like, that's not it, I need a third one. Exodus and Deuteronomy is sufficient. And we have examples of people in the Old Testament who were sanctioned by God to destroy idols in order to inspire believers to participate in iconoclasm, okay? So let me highlight some of the most famous iconoclasts in the Bible, okay? And what are some of the lessons that we can learn from them? You're in Exodus 32. The first iconoclast that I wanna mention is Moses. Moses is a notorious iconoclast, and should inspire us all to have the same view. Now, what is the lesson that we can learn from Moses of what we're gonna read here? Well, you can't use graven images to worship the Lord thy God, okay? Even if you have the best of intentions, even if you truly believe in your heart that you're worshiping God, it's 100% forbidden to use an icon or an image, a graven image to worship God. Now look at Exodus 32, verse number one. It says, and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. So what's taking place? Moses is in the mount with God, receiving the commandments of God, and he's been up there for a long time, so people are growing weary, they are impatient, and so they command Aaron, who's the man who's left in charge, Moses' brother, to make gods for them in order to lead them throughout the wilderness. Now keep in mind that God's people have just left where? Egypt, which is essentially the mecca of idolatry of that time. So they're very much familiar with all these false gods, right? Verse two says, and Aaron said unto them, no way we're supposed to break down their idols, you guys are compromisers, I'm telling Moses. That's what he should have said. But this is what he actually says, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me, and all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron, and he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. Man, a graving tool, right? Make no graven images. After he had made it a molten calf, and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. So who's the one who brought God's people out of the land of Egypt? God, Jehovah, the I am that I am. But all of a sudden, they're making this golden calf and attributing those actions to this golden calf. And he's saying, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Verse five, and when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Aaron is a compromiser. Aaron buckled under the pressure, he's not a good leader. He's allowing God's people to essentially tell him how they should be worshiping the God of the Bible. And he is essentially submitting to the wicked desires of the people to wanna make false gods. Verse six, and they arose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. What does this mean? In other words, they are participating in the eating of sacrifices unto false gods. When it says that they rose up to play, it's not scrabble, they're not playing tag, or hide and go seek. When it says play, it's referring to, they're playing the whore. Because in the Bible, when God would say, you're playing the whore, he's basically saying, you're committing idolatry, you're participating in spiritual whoredom, okay? You're acting like a spiritual whore, that's what he's referring to there. So, creating this golden calf is not getting them closer to God. It's causing the distance between them and God to increase that much the more. So no matter how much they think, oh, this is helping me get close to God, by repeating this vain repetition of Hail Marys, by carrying around this crucifix, by having the Virgin Mary statue here, it's getting me closer to God, not according to God's economy. And we see here that the creation of this graven image, this calf, is not only creating a distance between them and God, it's making them go further into sin. Because 1 Corinthians chapter 10 also says that they committed fornication. Look what it goes on to say in verse seven. And the Lord said unto Moses, go get thee down for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed their unto and said, these be thy gods of Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff necked people. Notice God didn't say, hey, they don't know how to worship me correctly. They're doing it wrong. No, he's saying they're worshiping false gods. He didn't even view it as it had anything to do with him. Now therefore, verse 10, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make thee of thee a great nation. So what was God's solution? Well, he says, this is what we should do. Let me just destroy all of the children of Israel. And because he's God, he's like, I'll just create another nation from you. Now Moses is a very patient, kind, merciful man. He's just like, no, don't do it. I think any one of us would have probably been like, hey, you're God, let's do it. You mean it? But he was very merciful, and he ended up convincing the mind of God to be merciful unto the people. Skip down to verse 19, if you would. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hand and break them beneath the mouth. So he was so angry and frustrated and furious at what God's people were doing that he took the two tables of stone, and he took the ten commandments, and he basically broke them. He's just so angry. Verse 20 says, and he took the calf, which they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. What an iconoclast. He's just like, you guys notice what's happening here? He takes this massive golden calf that was graven, he melts it, straws means that he spreads it on water, and then he says, all of you worshipers of this golden calf, drink this. And obviously they're dying because of it. It's not like this is his special cocktail, or this is something that I cooked up for you guys. No, this is, what is it picturing? Them drinking of the wrath of God. That's what it pictures there. And he's basically saying, oh you wanna worship this golden calf, then I'm gonna pour it down your throat. That's what I'm gonna do. And by the way, you don't see God intervene and you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. That's a little too extreme. You know why he didn't say that? Because his idea was better anyways. You forget that God was the one who said, well let me just wipe them all out. And Moses is like, no, no, no, no, I got a better idea, why don't we be merciful? And then he goes and he pours golden, melted gold down their throats, okay? You say, oh man, I don't like this story. I do. This is a great example of iconoclasm. This inspires me, not to pour metal or gold down people's throats, but it inspires me to hate idols as much as Moses hates it. Moses obviously abhors idols, even to the point where unfortunately he broke the two tables of stone, but he melts the calf, he straws it upon the water, and he makes them drink of it, picturing people drinking from the wine of his wrath. Look at verse 21, and Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that thou has brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. What is he doing? He's passing the buck. Well it's not my fault. You know them, they're just mischievous people. For they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let him break it off. So they gave it me, then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. Oh yeah, sure, that's how it works, right? I mean, talk about just not taking responsibility when you mess up. He's like, oh yeah, I mean, I just took the gold and I threw it in there, and just this great molten calf came out, just like, I don't know how that happened, you know? I just fell into sin, you know? Wrong, you're a weak leader. Your conviction against idolatry wasn't strong enough, Aaron. You don't hate idols enough. You're not an iconoclast, Aaron. Your brother is, though, and thankfully, he melted that golden calf, poured it down their throats, and we see later on that a ton of people died because of it, okay? And in fact, 3,000 men were killed by the sword because Moses said, you know, if you're on the Lord's side, come on my side, and every brother, take up a sword against his brother who worshiped that false god. And then 3,000 men were killed because of it. Drawing the line, you know why? Because Jesus Christ, the Bible says, came not to bring peace, but a sword. That's a great picture of Moses, right? Or Moses is a great picture of Jesus Christ. He didn't come to bring peace with the golden calf. He brought a sword, and every man was divided because of it. Go to Judges chapter six, if you will, Judges chapter six. Judges chapter number six. Oh, you know, but that's different, though, you know? As a Catholic, I'm against the idols of the Hindus, and I'm against the idols of the Buddhists, but the, you know, the statutes that we have, that's not idols because, you know, it's Jesus. Well, no, it's not just Jesus, it's saints as well. And you can call it veneration all you want, veneration means worship. Just because you changed the word doesn't mean the action is completely redefined. The action is still the same, it's worship. So you can call it veneration, but you know what? God is not fooled by your vocabulary. He knows exactly what you're doing. And he's completely against using a false image, an icon, to worship him, okay? And by the way, in Acts chapter 17, when the Apostle Paul is preaching at Mars Hill, they have a statue there to the unknown God. And, you know, Paul the Apostle corrects them and he uses that as an opportunity to preach the gospel unto them, and that's where he tells them that we are not to think that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. So he's basically saying, you know, the unknown God, I'm gonna tell you who the unknown God is, but let me just let you know, you shouldn't think that the unknown God, the Godhead, is made like this. You can't worship the God of the Bible using an image. It's completely wrong. Now let me give you another example, and that is that in the Old Testament, you know, because God's people were really rebellious and they would always provoke the Lord to anger, where there's one instance where they provoked him to anger and God sent fiery serpents among them, where all these snakes are just biting them and they're very venomous and they're tormenting the people. So the people cry out to God for mercy and God tells Moses, make a brass serpent. And anybody who looks upon the serpent will be saved from the bites of the serpents, okay? So it's an incredible story and obviously it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus says, and I, if I be lifted up, so I'll draw all men unto me. So it pictures the fact that when we look upon Jesus Christ for salvation, this thing of death is removed, right? We get salvation, we get our sins forgiven, and that old serpent known as Satan has no power over us thereafter, okay? Wonderful picture, beautiful, right? It's just like, but after that it should have been done. But no, the children of Israel take the brass serpent later on during the book of the kings and they start worshiping it. It's just like, wow, this was, you know, what a great story. Anyways, where's the incense at? And they're literally burning incense unto Nahushtan, that's what they called it, Nahushtan. And it's just like, Nahushtan didn't save you. God's the one who saved you. And this physical brass serpent that God told you to make already fulfilled its purpose in the wilderness. Just like the Ark of the Covenant already fulfilled its purpose physically on this earth. And it should not be worshiped thereafter. But it's interesting that, you know, they're burning incense unto Nahushtan, but it's not drawing them closer to God, they're actually in violation of God's word as they're burning incense to Nahushtan. And so it doesn't matter if the image looks like Jesus, which by the way, no image looks even closely related to, you know, a dark Jew from the desert. Right? Because Jesus was probably dark, he's from the Middle East, okay, and he did not look unique either. Don't let that offend you, that's what the Bible tells us. This is why they couldn't really point him out from all the other disciples, because they all kind of look the same. But you expect me to believe that he was like six foot two with this gorgeous hair? He's like white, thin face. He's like this, what are Europeans doing in the Middle East during that time? What in the world? He's like blue-eyed, he has a goatee. He's wearing a dress and everything, and it's just like, none of the images that are being depicted on these false gods even looks like remotely the description that the Bible gives of Jews of that time. And so you're worshiping a false god at the end of the day. Now let's look at the next iconoclast, and that is Gideon. So the first one was Moses, okay? Moses destroying the golden calf, showing us that we cannot use images, graven images, icons, idols, to worship God. God is not for that at all. Exodus chapter 20 clearly states that. We see in Exodus 23, we see an example with Moses in Exodus 32. But now let's look at Gideon, and the lesson that we can learn from Gideon is that idols, listen to this, have no divine power. Don't be afraid of destroying the idol. There's no spirit inside of the idol that escapes and strangles you afterwards or something. Don't have a superstitious view of idols and icons. They can't do anything. The physical idol cannot do anything whatsoever. It has no power whatsoever, okay? This is why the Bible says they must be born. Jeremiah chapter 10 says that these idols literally need to be picked up and moved geographically if we want to relocate it. It's not gonna just get up on its own two feet and start walking, it can't. Can't talk, it can't walk, it can't do anything. It has no power. But yet you have people that are so superstitious of idols, they don't wanna do anything because they think that something bad's gonna happen to them. Annabelle the doll. Don't move Annabelle the doll because, don't even look at it. Because it'll kill you or something. Give me that doll. Give me that doll. That doll has no power over fire, okay? That rag doll has no power over being some dog's shoe toy. Zero power whatsoever. It's all this superstitious mumbo jumbo that people put into the minds of the simple of this world to think that they have some sort of power. Let's look at an example here. Judges chapter six verse 25 says, and it came to pass that same night that the Lord said unto him, said unto Gideon, take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it. So God's telling Gideon to do this, okay? He said, get the bullock. Oh, and by the way, once you get to your father's house, make sure you get rid of that idol he has there. I don't want you to just get rid of it. I want you to throw it down, okay? Verse 26 says, and built an altar unto the Lord, and built an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, and the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove, which thou shalt cut down. So this also shows us that if we're gonna serve God and worship God the way he intends for us to worship, we gotta get rid of the false gods. You can't keep both. He says, verse 27, then Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him, and so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. Okay, so, you know, Gideon, man, he's a little scared, okay? So he's scared to cast down the image of Baal, so he's just like, how about we do it at night when no one can see us? So even though I give him credit for actually having the courage to cast down the image of Baal, he's being a little Nicodemus here by just going at night, okay? Look at verse 28, and when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. Now this is an awesome sight here, okay? Because you have the image of Baal, and the grove, where they would worship, they go in there in the morning, Baal's cast down, the grove is destroyed, and then an offering unto the Lord is right there in the middle. You know what I mean? It's just like, just kind of asserting dominance, as God being the true God. Verse 29 says, and they said one to another, who hath done this thing? When they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, bring out thy son, and let me just make a comment about verse 29, they knew he did it, so you might as well have done it in the daytime. So even though he went at night, someone saw him. So that's why when you serve God, folks, don't do it under cover. You know, you might as well do it in broad daylight, where everyone can see you, because God will make sure that everyone sees you. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, bring out thy son that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, will ye plead for Baal? Now I admire his father, even though it was his father's idol. But he's saying like, are you gonna defend Baal? Will you save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubail, saying let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. So Gideon went from being named Gideon to Jerubail, because he's just known as the iconoclast. He's known as the person who threw down the image of Baal. And what his father's saying here, well if Baal's a god, and he's powerful, and he's divine, then let him plead for himself. Let him come after Gideon. Let him do something about it. But he's not, because idols can't do anything. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter eight if you would, 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, chapter number eight. Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. If Baal has beef with Gideon, let him square it away with Gideon, but he's not going to, because of the fact that Baal is simply a false god that can't do anything whatsoever. Don't fear destroying the images and idols from your home. Don't fear the statue of the Virgin Mary. Oh, but you know, someone said it was crying blood or something. Someone put that on there. Someone put that on. You know, don't fear the Jesus that's on the bread. You know, or on the tortilla. When they see the Virgin Mary on the, give me that tortilla. I'll show you that she's not on there. I'll make her disappear quickly. Pareidolia is what that's referred to as. You know, pareidolia is only something that's supposed to be for children. Pareidolia is basically when you look at some sort of image, you know, the clouds, the popcorn ceiling, and you see images in that. You guys know what I'm talking about? You know, as a kid, back in my generation at least, we didn't have nothing to do so we'd just stare at the wall and then you see an entire battle scene on there or something, like a guy with a sword. That's called pareidolia. You know, you sit down in the grass, you look at the clouds passing by and you create images of what those clouds represent. That's pareidolia. But you know what? Some people just don't grow out of that. They integrate that into their religion and then they start seeing pareidolia everywhere. Oh man, Jesus is in the clouds. You know, Jesus is on the bread. He's on the tortilla. Oh man, the Virgin Mary is crying. Someone put that there. Take that blood and test it out and you'll see that it's like food coloring or something. But people are just willing to believe that though. And you will have masses of people just flocking to that statue and they'll go there, they'll bow down, they'll worship it. It's nonsense, my friends. Okay, don't have a superstitious view of inanimate objects. Here's another example. You know, crucifixes, we can't necessarily say are sinful. Obviously it's sinful if a graven image of Jesus Christ is on there. But if you have like a cross that you have on your neck or you have crosses on your house or something like that, we can't necessarily say that it's sinful. Especially if you're using it for decorative purposes. You're using it because you wanna signify Christianity or whatever it may be. We can't point to a verse and say that it's wrong because it's a cross. I don't have one because I don't need it. I take up my cross daily. I am the representation of Christianity for me and so are you. Our lives are the representation of Christianity. We don't need some sort of physical image to portray that. But let me say this, it's not wrong to have a crucifix but let me say this, a lot of people actually ascribe some sort of divine power to that inanimate object sometimes though. And sometimes they're just like, they'll get a cross around their neck because they think it'll protect them when they're driving on the freeway or something. Or they'll have crosses in their home because they think that God will favor them more if they have a cross. That cross can do nothing. It can't even ward off a vampire if one came into your home. It won't ward off wolves, vampires, spirits. Can't do any of that. Let me show you how to ward off a werewolf if it breaks into your home, a bullet. And it doesn't even have to be a silver one either. You don't ward off a vampire, a bullet would. And so don't have the superstitious belief. You don't need garlic. You don't need crucifixes. You don't need the saints. None of that stuff has any power whatsoever. The only power that it has is the power that you think you're given to it. Plain and simple. And here's an example. It was Gideon. He was like, threw it down, messed up the grove. Did you see Baal do anything about it? Is there a passage in here where Baal's just like, I'm gonna get that Gideon? This is Baal. That's Baal. I was gonna go lay down right now, but you know. That's Baal. Any image that was thrown down is just. He's not gonna get up. He's not gonna plead for himself. Cause they have no power. Look at 1 Corinthians 8, four. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. And that there is none other God but one God. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the father of whom are all things, and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him. Now let me just make myself very clear is that obviously the inanimate object has no power whatsoever, but demons do exist. Devils and demons do exist. That's very much real. The Bible talks about it. But even if a demon were to possess an inanimate object, it still can't do anything. Because the greatest power that a demon or a devil seeks to impose upon this world is the power of deception. Not of physically trying to harm you as a Christian. It's just like, oh man, I'm being spiritually attacked. I'm having all these nightmares. It's just the food that you ate before you went to bed. It's not spiritual warfare. You know, spiritual warfare is the fact that you keep giving into your flesh. It's the fact that you're not reading your Bible. It's the fact that you're not coming to church. It's the fact that you're not actually obeying the God's commands. That's the defeat right there. Not because you've been defeated in your dream or something like that. Demons and devils do exist. They absolutely exist, but their prime way of destroying God's people or hindering God's people is through deception, through apathy, okay? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 19. He says, what say I then, that the idol is anything or that which is offered and sacrificed to idols is anything, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God, and I would not think you should have fellowship with devils. So if you construct an image of Jesus Christ, you can say it's Jesus, but according to the Bible, there's a devil there. That's what the Bible says. Because nowhere in the Bible does it ever command for us to make any graven image of Jesus Christ. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever command it for us to make an image of the Godhead, of Jesus Christ. It strictly forbids it, and so if you make something like that, according to the Bible, there's a devil inhabiting that idol. So what's the proof of it? Here's the proof. The proof is in the fact that you're worshiping it. Plain and simple. Because it's already working because it's making you think as though it has some sort of divine power, okay? He says there in verse 21, you cannot drink with the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table of devils, do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? This is why I tell people, you're a Christian, don't ever go to a Catholic church just because you're trying to appease your husband or wife or family member. Obviously, there's instances where you can't help that and they make you go there, but you know what? If you do, don't participate in the religious rights of the Catholic church. Don't take the communion, don't drink of the wine. Why, because according to the Bible, you're provoking the Lord to jealousy. Don't go to a Mormon church where they worship Moroni. So what's the point here with Gideon? The point is, Gideon proved to us that idols have no power physically whatsoever. Don't be superstitious. Do not hold a superstitious view of inanimate objects. They have no power whatsoever. They can't do anything to you. Oh man, if I burn it up, is the demon gonna stick around and like bother me or something? Why don't you fear God, how about that? And that's the problem. A lot of these people who fear the outcome of destroying an idol, they don't fear God enough. Because at the end of the day, you know who can destroy you is God. You know who can whoop you is God. He doesn't need an idol to do it either. He just stopped your heart from beating, how about that? He'll just close up your throat so you can't breathe, how about that? God can destroy you at any moment. He has the power to do so, so don't fear the devil, don't fear the demon, fear God. You know, I miss the part in the Bible that says thou shall fear the devil. It tells us to be sober, to be vigilant, for your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. But over and over again, the Bible tells us what? Fear God though. Be afraid of God, yes. Not just the reverence, a fear of God. Why, because God actually holds our life in his hands and God is able to destroy us if he wanted to. If we live a life in such a way that's displeasing to him you know, he is the judge of all the earth, he can knock you off your high horse, he can take the carpet out from under you, he can destroy at any moment, therefore we should fear him. Now thankfully, we serve a lovingly kind God, a merciful and gracious God, a God who loves us. So I don't think we just have to live in fear that something's gonna happen to us because if we're serving God, why would we fear? That's why I'm not afraid of the solar eclipse tomorrow. The only thing I fear about the solar eclipse is I'm gonna miss it, you know what I mean? It's 1030 tomorrow, partial eclipse is happening, you can see it from here, from Southern California. It'll be a partial eclipse, but you know, make sure you have the right type of glasses to look at it, okay? There's people who are fearing the solar eclipse. Why? It's the moon, passing between the earth and the sun. There's eclipses happening all the time. And you have Christians like, what does this mean? It means the moon is passing between the earth and the sun. But what does this mean spiritually? You know, it's funny, you think so much of yourself, you think you're just like the main character because there's a solar eclipse happening all over the world all the time, yet you never thought some biblical prophecy was being fulfilled then, all of a sudden when it comes to America, then it really means something. It's like the movies, why do aliens, you know in the movies, aliens always go to America. They're always just attacking America or something. All of a sudden there's a solar eclipse in America, it's like oh, this is for sure some sort of biblical prophecy. What biblical prophecy, nothing's gonna happen. And so, you know, be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, the Bible says, for the heathen are dismayed at them. You know, people tell me, yeah, but you know, the sun is out there, it's put for signs and for seasons, yeah, but you know what? If the sun is placed there for a particular sign, God will tell us what that sign is. He would. I mean, read Matthew 24. He says this is the sign you should look for. He's only there for signs, but I'm not gonna tell you what you gotta figure that out. He's not just living in obscurity. He says they are for signs and in the future this is the sign that you should be looking for. Fear not. And so, who's gonna watch the solar eclipse tomorrow? Anybody gonna watch? You guys aren't geeks like me? Man. You guys, come on, just step outside real quick, go look at it, just don't look at it with your own eyes because that'll be the last thing that you see. Okay? Now, go to 1 Samuel chapter five. Here's the last one, 1 Samuel chapter five. Iconoclast number one, Moses, destroying the golden calf. Iconoclast number two, Gideon, tearing down the altar of Baal, the image of Baal and his groves. Iconoclast number three, and this is in no particular order, God. God is also into iconoclasm himself. He not only makes people and commands people to destroy altars, he will gladly participate himself. That's how much he hates it. Now, obviously there's instances where he's commanded kings to do so, kings are inspired to do so. Moses, Gideon, he actually tells them this is what you should do, but there's other instances where God says, I'm just gonna do it. And the lesson we're gonna learn here is that people, don't be offended by this, by the way, people who worship icons and idols are as dumb as the idols themselves. And you say, well, that's disrespectful. This is actually from the Bible, though. This is actually something that God actually says. Okay? And we'll look at it in just a bit, but let's look at the story first. 1 Samuel chapter five, verse one. And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashtad. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. So what's actually taking place here? Well, the Philistines have just destroyed the Israelites in war. And what's taking place here is that they have taken the ark of the covenant, okay? Which in the Old Testament was representative of the presence of God, okay? So it was extremely just disrespectful. It was something that the children of Israel were very fearful about. And God allowed that to happen, by the way, okay? So by the way, let me just say this is that God is pro-iconoclasm even when it comes to the things pertaining to the house of God. Because there's instances in the Bible, excuse me, where God is punishing his people and he allows foreigners to come and essentially pillage their land and take away all the accoutrements of the house of God as a way to instill fear in God's people. So he's even for it even in his own household when he's judging his own people. Let's put it that way, okay? And so he allows the Philistines to take the ark of the covenant. And to add insult to injury, they take the ark of the covenant and they place it in the house of their false god named Dagon, okay? It says in verse three, and when they of Ashtad arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So not only was it fallen, it fell right before the ark of God. Meaning it's bowing before the ark of God. Verse number, latter end of verse three, and they took Dagon and set him in his place again. So they're like, oh, that's weird. Here you go, Lord, you know? And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Now, let me just say something before I expound on this particular verse, is that all of these false gods, whenever they fall over, they need someone to pick them back up, right? Every time. Whereas the ark of God, God says, don't touch it. If you touch it, I'll kill you. And there's instances, now obviously there's instances where he commanded them to carry the ark, but there's instances where people have put their hand to steady it so that it wouldn't fall over. Uzzah, for example, was about to fall over, and he's like, oh, and he touched it, and God's like, you're dead. And he just died. He's like, I don't need your help. Don't touch it. It's very much different from Dagon. God destroys someone for trying to touch the ark. Dagon is not doing anything. Someone get me up! So they pick him up, and then the next day, because they didn't really get the message, you know? They're not really getting what's taking place here, so what does God do? He decapitates the idol, and he cuts off his hands, and only the stump is left. Verse five says, therefore, neither the priest of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtod unto this day. So you would think that after seeing that, the people of Ashtod would say, you know what? Maybe we're worshiping the wrong God, because this guy sucks. He couldn't even defend himself against the ark of the Lord. God is obviously the one who decapitated him and took off his palms. It's bowing down before the ark of the covenant. Let's worship the God of the Bible instead, because he's more powerful. That's like the reasonable conclusion they should have come to, right? It's like, you know what? God is way more powerful. Dagon, you know, I'm tired of picking him up. Now what we're gonna do, but what do they do instead? They're like, you know what? Now let's never walk on, you know, let's never tread on the threshold of Dagon, because that's where he fell. So basically, where he fell is like, that place is holy ground. He said, what assessment would you make of that? They're dumb. That's a stupid thing to do. The right reaction would have been, throw this thing in the trash. Let's become Israelites. Let's worship the God of the Bible. But instead it's just like, oh, you know what? This place is holy ground. Don't even walk on the area where Dagon fell, because that's where he fell. This is where he was defeated. This is where Dagon was defeated, therefore let us not walk on the threshold of this area. Verse six says, but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coaster of. So because they're not getting the hint, he destroyed Dagon, he decapitated him, he took off his hands, and then they're like, well, you know, let's just never walk on the threshold. He says, okay, then what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna kill a bunch of people in this area, and then I'm gonna give you emerods. Now what are emerods? Hemorrhoids. And that's, I'll just leave it at that, okay? He smote them with emerods. So everyone in the land can't sit down, they're walking around all funny. I'm not gonna be able to fight anyways. I mean, don't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor. That's funny, that's super funny. That's meme worthy, amen? Because he destroys them, and he gives the ones who are not destroyed, the ones who are not killed, he gives them hemorrhoids. Even Ashdod and the coaster of. Now what is the principle there? Go with me to Psalm 115, Psalm 115. The principle there is that idols are really dumb. And dumb means that they're not able to speak, right? They're not able to talk. But you know, a secondary meaning of dumb is stupid. Look what the Bible says in Psalm 115, verse number two. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, not they gone, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. Look at verse number eight. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. You know what I'm saying? You're as dumb as they are. Now let's just be honest, as maybe some of us here, myself included, we were carried away with those dumb idols because we were unsaved, we didn't know any better. But when we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we realized this is a dumb idol and I no longer want to be dumb. I believe in the God of the Bible. And he's saying there, he's mocking people who worship false gods. And this is why the Bible is pro iconoclasm. He wants you and me to be iconoclasm, to destroy idols, to burn them. Why? Because they're dumb. And if people esteem idols as being something religious and powerful and divine, God says, you're dumb. You're dumb. Because it can't do anything to you. It can't defend itself. It can't defend you. Not only can it not defend itself, it can't even defend you. It has no divine power. It has no authority whatsoever. It can't even talk. It can't handle, it can't even see, it can't hear. It can't do anything, yet you trust in it. Whereas the God of the Bible holds our life in his hands, he provides for all our needs. He protects us, even when we don't know we're being protected. How many times you could have gone in a car accident and you probably didn't even know it? How many times you probably were near death and God just protected you and he didn't even notify you about it? He just did it because he's God. You know, the mere fact that you're here alive, breathing today, is a testament of God's mercy. He's allowing you to live, amen. No false gods can do that. They're incapable of doing that. And so what is the sermon this morning? The sermon this morning is, you know, we are pro-iconoclasm, and if you have any idols in your household, doesn't matter if they have sentimental value, doesn't matter if your grandmother gave it to you, if you have a rosary, a candle, an idol, an icon, burn it. Destroy it. You say, well, you know, I don't really have space in my house to really do something like that. Bring it here. Got a big enough fellowship hall back there. Got some bats that, you know, I took an Xbox to, you know, early couple months ago or whatever. We'll use that bat and we'll break it down here. And you know what, let me just say this, and I'm done, okay? I'm not saying this for sensationalism's sake, by the way. I do know this for a fact. When you participate in the breaking and destruction of idols, it creates zeal in you. It does create zeal in you. Because then you realize, like, this is what God approves of, this is what God wants. Because it's an expression of loyalty to God. The fact that you love the Lord. And the fact that because you love the Lord, listen to this, you hate evil. You know? And so get rid of your idols, get rid of your icons, and 1 Corinthians chapter five actually says that if you have idols and you're not willing to get rid of them, you're an idolater and you merit excommunication. That's what the Bible actually teaches. How about that? Amen? And so this is an iconoclastic church. We participate in iconoclasm, have nothing against it. The Bible says we should do it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And thank you for being our powerful God. And if God be for us, who can be against us? Thank you for your omniscience, your omnipotence, and your omnipresence. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't, thank God that we don't need some sort of physical image or graven image to protect us or to lead us, Lord. We have the word of God. And even then, we don't necessarily need a physical Bible if we memorize the Bible. The content of the Bible leads us, Lord. It's a lamp into our feet, a light into our path. And I pray that you'd help us to continue to draw the line in the sand, making a distinction between idols and worshiping the God of the Bible. And you've told us, Lord, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? And I pray that you'd bless us as we go on our way. We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.