Exodus 20:1-3
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Introductory Story
John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress // “There was a man, though some did count him mad, the more he cast away, the more he had.
God alone is to be worshipped.
The more you cast away, the more ability you have to worship Him.
My uncle used to always say at a restaurant, eat what you pay for. If you ordered shrimp scampi, eat the shrimp. If you ordered the steak, you better not leave that steak and finish the fries.
So many of us have been filling up on lesser things that we have no room left to worship Jesus.
God does not share His worship. He does this out of love.
Context
The Israelites have gathered around Mt. Sinai to hear what their relationship with God would be.
The Israelites call the 10 Commandments the 10 Words. They are the definitive rules of the people of Israel.
CIT: Our God is the only God, and He alone do we worship.
Explanation
Explanation
English Standard Version Chapter 20
20 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.
God is not saying, “you can have other God’s, but I am first.” He is saying, “I am the only God.”
The phrase literally states, “You shall have no God’s in front of my face.” This means, I am not going to watch you worship any other God before me.”
Parents, have you ever had kids openly disobey you - not even trying to hide it. “I can’t believe that you are going to do that to my face.”
We only and exclusively worship God.
You will worship nothing but Yahweh.
When God tell us to reject false gods, He is also telling us to choose Him as the one true God.
We have no other God’s
We can make a little “g” god out of anything.
God created us to worship Him, but in the garden, when sin entered the world, we began to worship things that are not God.
The human nature (or human heart) is a perpetual idol factory. // John Calvin
You and I are experts in taking something that the world has to offer and making it into something that needs to be worshipped.
You have to ask yourself with everything that you own, desire, and aspire - how could I turn this into an idol? or When does this become an idol?
English Standard Version Chapter 1
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
b. We began to worship things that were created instead of the creator.
i. We have traded our steak for the fries. We have traded created things for the creator.
ii. The passage continues to state that our ways of thinking became futile.
iii. Have you noticed that the less and less our society has focused on God, the more and more degenerate our way of living has become.
iv. We live in a world where people desire to worship everything except for God.
Application
Application
Monotheism isn’t popular, but it is true and good.
We sometimes feel icky trying to share our faith, because we think that we are stepping on their autonomy or their faith. We think that trying to persuade someone is pushy and tacky.
Hear me: We share that Jesus is the only true God, because this truth is a matter of life and death.
If you were a doctor, and you believed that one of your patients had a horrible, life threatening disease, you would use the power of persuasion to convince them to get surgery/medication, etc.
Imagine knowing someone has a life cancer that can be cured and upon their refusal of treatment, saying , “Well, we all have a difference of opinion, you know?”
We speak of the one true God.
If you believe that our God is the one true God, it should empower you to worship - because no other “god” is going to stop you.
Everything else is simply
Do you have anything else that you worship?
We all believe in the “big G” God of the Bible, but sometimes we worship other things.
We have to test our hearts for idolatry. Ask two questions:
What do you love?
What do you trust?
When you worship God, it is all or nothing.
The Ten Commandments are not the 10 Suggestions or Recommendations. They are commandments.
How can you tell if you have fallen into spiritual idolatry?
If you had to choose between God and _______, you would choose___________.
Where does your mind go when you daydream?
Do you thirst for God? If not, it might be that you have been filling your life with something other than Him. Parents telling your kid not to down the third Dr. Pepper before the meal comes.
Are you more sensitive to God’s presence?
Do you yearn for heaven and to be like Jesus?
Invitation
Invitation
There is none better than Jesus.
Revival is when truth that , “No one or nothing is as good as Jesus, “ makes it from our heads to our hearts.
No one loves you like Jesus can. No one has given himself for you the way Jesus can.