The First Commandment Exodus 20:2-3
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Introduction
Introduction
This morning I want us to begin a new direction for a new few weeks. It is a direction that perhaps we do not always consider faithfully because it is from the Old Testament period.
But I want to tell you it is one that we cannot easy forget because it is important to the past, present and future of humanity.
It is the decalogue, the law- the 10 commandments of God that i want us to begin looking at over the next few weeks.
This is the law that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, as the children of Israel were encamped around the mountain of God.
So why is it important to us?
Why?
Because it still pertains to us, listen to Jesus in Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
It is important for us to know and understand the law of God, to understand perfectly what God desires for us as His children. It is important, understand please do not make the mistake that since we are under grace that the law doesn’t matter any more. It matters my friend, and it matters deeply.
It is important for us to know and understand the law of God, to understand perfectly what God desires for us as His children. It is important, understand please do not make the mistake that since we are under grace that the law doesn’t matter any more. It matters my friend, and it matters deeply.
Let take our Bibles and lets go to the Old Testament book of Exodus, and lets find chapter 20.... verses 2-3.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
This my friends is the first commandment of the Lord, You shall have no other gods before me...
So lets begin with this first thought today....
1. Understand that we are in a relationship with the Lord
Now I choose the word “understand” for us to consider this today, we must reason together that the Lord has called us to know Him; to live in relationship with Him.
In the Book of Exodus, we find that God has delivered the children of Israel, He has brought them out of Egypt, He has delivered them from their oppression, from their slavery in a land that no longer welcomes them, or remembers Joseph any longer.
So He has brought them through the wilderness to the mountain of God, and here the Lord will enter a covenant relationship with them.
to the mountain of God, and here the Lord will enter a covenant relationship with them.
He will be their God and they will be His people.
So the Lord, calls His people to live and walk with Him.
Let me share a passage with you, one that reminds us just how special our relationship with the Lord is....
Listen to
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The relationship we have with the Lord our God should produce to overarching outcomes in our lives.
In fact the greatest commandment says we are to love God with a over abundance of love, a love that comes from the totality of who we are as his children. So with mind, body, soul and strength we are called to love Him.
Now here is the truth of the matter, this is only possible if the Lord is the only one we love.
You shall have no other gods before me… we cannot love God unless He is the only object of our affections..
Amen.
And look at where that love leads us..
We have to, it is a must for us to teach our children, if we do not the world will surely lead them astray.
So the Lord says…
Verse 7… with diligence (not being slack) we are to teach them to them our children. and notice the frequency by which we are to speak to them about it.. At home or moving about, getting up in the mornings or laying down to sleep we are to teach them.
1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,
In fact they are to be beyond to our hands and head, and placed on the door posts of our homes..
Explain how the Jews wrap their arms and tie boxes to their heads as they pray
Explain how in dedicating their homes to the Lord they would attach them to the entrance.
A personal relationship with God, with the Lord Jesus today still commands that we worship Him alone as God…
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Ex
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “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. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
22 And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
There can be nothing else beside him.... if there is we are a idolatrous ppl.
So here is a thought to ponder.... how is your relationship with the Lord..
Now on to my second thought for today...
2. Understand He is worthy of our obedience and worship.
Now lets hang onto the word understand, for it means we are reasoning together concerning what we believe about the Lord our God.
Why is this so....
Go back to verse 2
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
A. Notice this thought first.. I AM.... the Lord your God.
The Lord your God is the one who led you as a people up out of the land of oppression, the great I am who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He is the one who as acted on behalf of His people to lead them...
B. Then we come to the Word “brought’ this particular word has a very personal note to it. It was the Lord who brought them out of the land. Now someone might say it was Moses.... but Moses us the vessel, the one God used, but is the Lord who did the work.
B. Then we come to the Word “brought’
C. Why did the Lord our God do all these things… He did so out of love for us..
If we go back to the very first chapters of the Old Testament, to the book of Genesis we can find one great truth for His children to see… He loves His children.
He created man and woman, and God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. And if you continue and see man at its lowest, when God decided to destroy the world through a flood, God saved a righteous family. Out of love, He called Noah to build an ark and saved a remnant of creation.
Later on, God called Abraham, out of love to come and follow Him..
So in each of these cases I see that God has always called His people to come and follow, not half way but all the way.
And even in the last days, for the children of Israel, God has promised to save a remnant of His people
And today, under the New covenant, the one which Christ ratified with His own body and blood, He still calls us to walk with Him… Why,, He loves us...
So by obedience we are called to follow the Lord and to worship Him.
God called the children out of the land to come and worship Him and so we are called to worship the Lord as well. Jesus brought us out of the land of death and sin and saved us by his marvelous grace.
Are you worshipping the Lord?
It is more than just coming and sitting in these pews, worship is the giving back in praise to the one who laid down His life to redeem us, buy us back from sin, death and pain.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Let me share Revelation chapter 5, verses 6-10
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
Can you imagine with me just how wonderful it is, just to hear the praise and rejoicing in heaven because of Jesus.
If all of heaven rejoices… should we not lift up our voice and praise the name of Jesus?
He is worthy of our obedience and worship...
Now just one last thought for us to consider today my friends.....
3. Understand our Focus must be on Him and Him alone...
The first commandment of God, His first law says:
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
God is very singular in His approach my friends… We can have no other gods before Him.
Our focus must be on God and God alone....
How do I know this… well lets look at the example of Jesus.
Matthew chapter 4 tells us of the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan.
Three times Stan challenges the Lord, once with hunger, once with fame and once with power
Sin is always the same.. it is just presented a little differently, but Satan was trying to pull Jesus into sin,
Satan appealed to the eyes, He was hungry… He has fasted 40 days in the wilderness.
He was weary, take a short cut and allow the whole world to see just who you are… by-pass the cross… jump off the temple pinnacle....
and finally, I can give you everything just bow down to me....
In each of these tempations, Jesus responded with His focus on the Father...
listen...
4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Matthew
And then again in
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Then finally listen to the last response Jesus makes...
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Its powerful my friends, Jesus showed the world who His focus would be… and he testified to it… I have come to do not my will, but the will of the one who sent me....
Here is a great question to consider.. whose will are you doing? Where is your focus?
Why do I ask that.... if our focus isn’t on God, then it is on self and essentially that is who we worship… Anything we put ahead of God , robs God of obedience and worship.
Why do I ask that.... if our focus isn’t on God, then it is on self and essentially that is who we worship… Anything we put ahead of God , robs God of obedience and worship.
Consider Samson from the book of Judges in the OT, He is mentioned in to 16
When you look at the life of Samson, we see a mighty man, one who was called to great things by the Lord, but there was a problem… it was Samson.
Go read his story for yourself… He was arrogant, he was prideful, He was disobedient and broke his Nazarite vow, He loved self more than the Lord and it cost him dearly....
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Only after his hair being cut, his strength gone and his eyes blinded did he really see the singular devotion the Lord calls for us.
Friends I would say that Samson learned the hard way.
Let me ask you a question… How many of you have to find out the hard way?
It is not great is it… Oh I have been there many, many times.
The first commandment has one focus....
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
The meaning of this phrase “before me” has the idea of yes, nothing in front of God.. bu that meaning is deeper than that..
It carries the idea of having no other gods around me as well.
Let me share this thought…
Several years ago I had the joy of witnessing to a gentleman from India, a Dr. Patel. He as a very nice, easy going man. As we sat in His living room I noticed he had several idols sitting on top of his TV.
I asked him if those where gods he worshipped and he said yes.. as I presented Christ to him, He was willing to accept Jesus but when I asked him if he was willing to forsake those other gods he said no...
How sad, He would not accept Christ and Christ alone
You see my friends their can be on one, no thing, no idol, nothing else can be present. It is Christ and Christ alone.
Jesus said it well when he addressed the issue of money....
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Now take the word money out of the verse and put in anything else you want… You cannot allow anything else in place of God.
Not money, self, profession, work, family, other possession… the list can do on and on… you cannot allow anything to be in place of or try to share the place only God can occupy in your life.
It is Him and Him alone....
So let me ask you, does anything have this place in your life, are you holding anything in place of God or He first in your life?
You shall have no other God’s before me is the only way we can live in front of God.
How do you stand in light of this first commandment?
pray