I Am the Lord

Written With the Hand of God

I Am the Lord

Deuteronomy 5:6-7

1.      As we begin to look at the Ten Commandments, it will help us to understand what they are and what they aren’t.

2.      The Ten Commandments were given by God to regulate human relationships.

3.      The first four commandments regulate how we relate to God.

4.      The last six commandments regulate how we should relate to each other.

5.      It seems to me that this is very telling.

6.      Our relationship with God should be simpler than our relationships with other people.

7.      Think about it.  God never changes.  People always change.

8.      God always tells the truth.  People might lie.

9.      God is.  He always has been and He always will be.  We are finite.

10.  When God says something, we only need the faith to believe it.

11.  When most of the people we know say something, it is colored by what we’ve experienced with that person.  What do we know about them?  How much do we trust people in general?

12.  There’s a very good reason why the commandments start with our relationship with God and for the order that each one is placed in the sequence.

13.  ILL: Old Testament Survey – foundations

14.  To understand the rest of the commandments fully, we have to get this first one down.

15.  –Passage—

16.  This is the foundation for the rest of the commandments and truly the rest of the Bible, even the rest of our lives.  If we can fully comprehend this one commandment, the rest of them will fall in line.

17.  As we are looking at the first of the commandments, the clear call of God’s Word is that God wants people to put Him first.

18.            Every Person Must Put God First.

I.                   God Is First By Definition

1.      Let’s start with God’s first words here.  He begins simply by declaring who is speaking.

2.      I am the LORD – Jehovah, YHWH, the self-existing One.

3.      This is God’s proper name.  This is the holy name of God that Jews still don’t pronounce properly so as not to take His name in vain.

4.      The root of this word comes from what God called Himself when He first dealt with Moses at the bush.

5.      Exodus 3:13-14 (KJV) 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

6.      By calling Himself I AM, God was telling Moses more than the fact that He exists.

7.      In Genesis, the LORD created everything.

8.      Genesis 2:4 (KJV) 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

9.      Not long after, the LORD created the diversities of human language.

10.  Genesis 11:6-8 (KJV) 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

11.  People need materials and time to create things.

12.  ILL: bridge by the house

13.  God created everything out of nothing.

14.  Genesis 1:1-3 (KJV) 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

15.  He says, I am the LORD thy God.  This phrase is repeated often in the Old Testament.  God not only refers to Himself as the self existent one who needs none other, but also as the personal God who desires to relate to us.

16.  He is creator and sustainer of the universe, yet He is also a friend to people.

17.  2 Chronicles 20:5-7 (KJV) 5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? 7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

18.  Isaiah 41:8 (KJV) 8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

19.  James 2:23 (KJV) 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

20.  It is because of whom He is that we must put Him first.

21.  If there were no blessings, He would still be God.  If there were no gifts, He would still be God.

22.  There can be no equal because He is God.

23.  There can be no substitute because He is God.

24.  If there were one who was superior, then He couldn’t be God.

25.  By definition, God must be first.

II.                God Is First By Deliverance

1.      Back in verse 6, we see these words…

2.      Deuteronomy 5:6 (KJV) 6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

3.      This is one of the earliest reminders of where God’s deliverance of Israel.

4.      The idea of taking Israel back and rehearsing all that God has done is a repeated theme in the Bible.

5.      Read Psalm 136 some time.  It tells Israel’s story all the while reminding the reader that God’s mercy endures forever.

6.      This was the generation that came to age after the Red Sea.  Many of these people experienced first hand the mighty work of God as the wind came up and the walls of water formed and Moses led them across the sea.

7.      These people saw Pharaoh’s army riding their chariots hard through the sea as God brought the walls crashing in on them.

8.      Yet we have to be reminded of what God has done for us.

9.      If He were writing these commandments for us, how would He do it?

10.  I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of your sin and darkness, from the vile filth of your rebellion.

11.  I am the Lord thy God which bought your salvation with my very Son’s blood.  I secured the blessings of your soul without reservation.

12.  I am the Lord thy God which took away your sins and gave you my righteousness.  I took you from the grip of Satan and sin and placed you in heavenly places blessing you with all spiritual blessing.

13.  We should put God first because of what He’s done in our lives.  No, there was no Red Sea for me.  There wasn’t a Jordon crossing.  I didn’t see the clock turn back and I didn’t see legions of angels.

14.  He did lift me out of my sins.  He does give me victory.  He did give me a ministry to perform.

15.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV) 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

16.  Because of deliverance, God must be first.

III.             God Is First By Decision

1.      Let’s look at verse 7.

2.      Deuteronomy 5:7 (KJV) 7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

3.      This is decision time for all people.  All of creation agrees that God is first because He is the creator.  Yet the one stand out in the whole thing is mankind.

4.      Humanity is the only species that must make a practical choice regarding God.

5.      We don’t just follow God because He says so.

6.      We don’t just follow God because we have to.

7.      We don’t just follow God because there is no other choice.

8.      We have to be given instructions and then we have the choice to follow, or not.

9.      Genesis 2:15-16 (KJV) 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

10.  God tells us not to have other gods before Him, but in telling us this, He knows that He’s not going to force us to obey.  He’s not going to coerce us to obey.

11.  We have to decide to obey.

12.  That’s why Joshua put it so perfectly at the end of his life.

13.  Joshua 24:15 (KJV) 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

14.  Do we remember what Elijah had to say about this?

15.  1 Kings 18:21 (KJV) 21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

16.  We have to make the daily, minute-by-minute decisions.

17.  Do I follow God or man?

18.  Do I sit read my Bible, or watch the filth on TV?

19.  Do I honor my wife by meeting her needs, or do I continue in my selfishness?

20.  Do I clean my room or whine at mom?

21.  We have to decide to put God first in our lives.  It is the act of will within man that follows the leading of the Holy Spirit, making God first in your life.