Have No Other ‘gods’
Exodus 20:3 - You shall have no other gods before me.
Luke 4:8 - Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
Understanding the 10 Commandments
The 10 Commandments are part of the Mosaic Covenant
Old Covenant was a conditional Covenant between God and Israel
New Covenant is an unconditional Covenant between God and believers in Jesus
The 10 Commandments never saved anyone
The 10 Commandments convey eternal Principles
Why does God want us to have no other gods before Him?
Because when we do…
…We Dishonor Him
…We Hurt Ourselves
What are some things we make other ‘gods’ and place before Him?
Money, Time, career, Relationships, Family
What can we do to not have other god’s before Him?
Be in God’s word
Be in Fellowship
Be in Service
Be Sacrificial
Introduction to Series
Slide
This morning we begin a new series on the 10 commandments, God’s Top Ten, if you will. We are going to take a look at these 10 commands that God felt so important of all the laws he gave to Israel that He wrote them on stone tablets with his own finger.
Understanding the 10 Commandments
Now, before we begin, I think it is important that we start by understanding a couple of things about the 10 commandments.
First,
The 10 commandments are part of the Mosaic Covenant
Slide
Also known as the Old Covenant or the Law
The Old Covenant was a conditional Covenant between God and Israel
What does that mean?
A couple of things
Covenant with Conditions
First, there are conditions to this covenant for both God and the people under the covenant.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
This was a covenant that had obligations for both parties of the covenant. If the people did not uphold there end of the covenant, God had no obligation to bring blessings. And the people understood this and entered into this covenant.
Exodus 24:7-8
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey."
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
That means that this covenant that God made with Israel through Moses had conditions for God to follow and conditions for Israel to follow.
Covenant with Israel
The second thing to understand is that this was a covenant with Israel, not with everyone.
It is not a covenant that applied to those outside Israel.
Now to help us understand the old covenant, I want to talk about the New Covenant that God made.
The New Covenant is an unconditional Covenant between God and believers in Jesus
Slide
What does that mean?
A Covenant without Conditions
Listen to the comparison that the author of Hebrews makes between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:6-13
6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
13 By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
What obligations did you hear for the people under this covenant?
None. It was all about what God would do.
All the conditions of the covenant are on God’s part.
Secondly,
We find this Covenant is for many people
This morning we celebrated the Lord’s supper. It was at the Lord’s supper that he spoke of putting the new Covenant into effect.
Mark 14:22-24
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them.
The New Covenant is for many. But how does one enter into the covenant that God has established?
By believing in Jesus Christ.
Our only obligation is to enter into the covenant by believing.
John 3:16
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Ok, so that is some brief differences between the Old and new Covenants.
And we see that the 10 Commandments were part of the Old Covenant that the author of Hebrews says is obsolete and has been replaced by the New Covenant that has no conditions for those under it, other than entering into the Covenant by believing in Jesus as Savior and His death and resurrection.
We also need to understand that
The 10 commandments never saved anyone
Slide
By that I mean no one ever received salvation by obeying all of the 10 commandments.
Listen to what Paul tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in
Galatians 2:16 – “a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
By observing the law no one will be justified.
Ok, then, if no one will be justified by observing the law,
Why did God give these 10 commandments which are part of the law?
Galatians 3:24 tells us that “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.”
How does the law lead us to Christ?
Paul tells us in Romans 7 that we wouldn’t know what sin is without the Law.
Romans 7:7 – “For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
So the law helps lead us to Christ by helping us recognize that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
And that Savior we need is one who could fulfill the law.
Listen to what Jesus said in
Matthew 5:17-18
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. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished
When was everything accomplished?
On the cross
Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and then offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind and finished this work at the cross.
When He was on the cross, what were his final words?
John 19:30 – “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and instituted the New Covenant
Romans 10:4 tells us that “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Ok, so if the law has ended and the 10 commandments were part of the Law, why should we even learn about these 10 Commandments?
Because, unlike the rest of the law,
The 10 Commandments convey Eternal Principles
Slide
Unlike the rest of the Law that contained Civil and Ceremonial laws for the nation of Israel because they were a nation and it was before God manifested Himself in the flesh, God gave them unique worship rituals to set them apart from other nations and to foreshadow the coming of the Messiah who would fulfill every law such as the various sacrifices, the temple worship, etc. We have no need for the civil laws of Israel, because we are not the nation of Israel and we have our own national civil laws in America or in whichever county you happen to be in.
So while all the laws have been fulfilled in Christ, and no one will be saved through the law or the 10 commandments,
These 10 commandments do convey some eternal principles that are important because they
Slide
show us how we can love God and love our neighbor which Jesus said are
the two greatest commandments and
where all the other commandments come from (Matthew 22:37-40)
I believe that this is why God wrote these 10, out of the over 600 laws in the Old Covenant, on stone, because they do convey these eternal principles that are good for us to know and understand and yet realize that we fall short and need a Savior.
So if you would turn with me to Exodus 20:1-3
Slide
We are going to take a look at these 10 Commandments from the perspective of the New Covenant and see what application they may have, if any, in our lives today.
Exodus 20:1-3
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
Pray
Now before God even gives any of the commands, notice what He says in verse2.
He reminds them of Who He is.
He says,
I am the Lord your God,
I am the One who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
I am your Good God
This is important because whenever anyone is laying down the law, giving us rules or conditions of what we must do, we need to know about the character of the party on the other side of this covenant, this agreement.
If we think the other party is a jerk, we will view our obligations as a burden.
But if we know the character of the other party is good and has our best interest in mind, we understand that our obligations are for the overall good.
Marriage Covenant
For instance, someone getting married on their wedding day to a person they know is good and that they have relationship with can understand the good of the vows that they make.
They understand that they are committing to this one person to love them, to comfort them, to honor them, in good times and bad, and being willing to forsake all others for their whole life.
If they did not know this person they were marrying however, if they did not love them and were in relationship with them, this would be quite burdensome to make those vows.
But because they are in relationship and know the person, they joyfully make their vows.
So God reminds them of who He is, the Good God who brought them out of Egypt.
I have your best in mind. I want to pour out blessings on you. These commandments I am giving you are for your very best.
The first commandment
And then He begins by giving them the first of the 10 Commandments.
He says, 3 "You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
Well, as we saw this is something that was given to Israel.
Does this command have application for the follower of Jesus under the New Covenant?
We will see that 9 of the 10 Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, not as part of a law we must follow if we are to inherit eternal life, but as ways that we live out our eternal life showing our love for the Lord and our love for our neighbor.
This first command we find Jesus confirming for us as a way to live out our love for God.
When He is being tempted by Satan in the desert in Luke 4:8, Jesus, says,
’Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
He also tells us that the first and greatest commandment is to ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37-38)
Worship God and serve Him only
Don’t have other gods before the Lord Almighty.
Why does God want us to have no other gods before Him?
Slide
Because when we do…
…We dishonor God
God is the Supreme Being in all the universe and our ultimate purpose is to glorify Him because He is the One and Only God who has created all things.
When we honor anything else ahead of God, we dishonor Him.
Ultimately when we are trusting anything ahead of God, we are basically saying,
God, I don’t trust you to be good or that you are good.
I need to trust in something else to provide for the needs I have.
That dishonors God.
But not only do we dishonor God when we put something or someone else ahead of Him, but…
…We Hurt Ourselves
Slide
It hurts us when we have other ‘gods’ before the One true God.
It hurts us because we are trusting in something that is inferior to God.
We are trusting in something that can’t provide for us like God can.
We are trusting in something that leads us away from the One, the Only One, who is able to meet every need and lead us to a life of fulfillment and joy.
We may experience a moment of pleasure when we place a ‘small g’ god in front of the one true God, but we are embarking on a path of pain and disappointment for the long run.
It is always best for us to keep God in first place in our life.
It honors Him and benefits us for eternity.
But that is a whole lot easier said than done.
Satan is subtle in his attempts to get us to worship other ‘gods.’
He tried to get Jesus to worship Him by diverting Him from the Father’s will.
So I think it is important for us to be aware of things that may sneak into our life and try to get us to put some false, small g, god, ahead of the One and only True God.
So
What are some things that we make other gods and place before Him?
Slide
Well there are the easy things we can talk about
Money, Free Time, Career, Relationships, Family time
All of these things are needs in our life so it is easy to make them into gods that we must put ahead of God, but the reality is that when we do that we are not really trusting Him to provide for our needs.
God knows we need money.
God knows we need relationships
God knows we need time to rest and time for our family.
He knows and wants us to have that and when we have Him as first place in our life, he will guide us so that we have the perfect amount of each of those things in our life.
When we say god I can’t follow you right now, because I need more money, or I can’t be doing what you want me to do because I need more time with my family, something is out of whack and it is not that you are following God too closely.
It is that you have removed Him from first place and replaced him with some other ‘god’
When we do that we are basically saying, God, I don’t trust you to be good to me.
But God is good, even if we don’t always recognize it.
Jesus in the sermon on the mount, says this in
Matthew 6:24-34
24 "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.
We could easily substitute any of the things we have talked about in place of money
You cannot serve both God and Career
You cannot serve both God and kids sports
You cannot serve both God and human relationships, family time
You cannot serve both God and self.
Now understand that it doesn’t say you can’t have money or a career or activities or relationships, it is saying don’t serve them or worship them.
Do not make them a god you serve ahead of God Almighty. Then it goes on
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Our Good God, when we keep him first, cares for us, protects us, watches over us, provides for us and fulfills us.
Now everyone one of us will face times of difficulty, times where we are tempted to put other things ahead of God, but that is when we need to remind ourselves of who God is and stand strong against those temptations and trust that our Good God will work all things out for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
Now that is easier said than done.
So,
What can we do to keep God first in everything so that we can experience the fullness of life He desires for us to have?
Slide
Be in God’s Word
When we are in God’s word, we are going to be able to recognize truth instead of believing the lies.
When we are facing trouble and Satan says “God doesn’t care about you,” you will know that Jesus told us to expect trouble in this world
John 16:33
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
When we are facing evil circumstances and things that are just plain bad, we will know that God tells us in Romans 8:28, “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
In all things, even the bad, God can take and work for our good.
When we are facing persecution we will know that Paul tells Timothy in
2 Timothy 3:12, that “ everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”
It is vital for us to stay in God’s word so we know the truth and can keep God first.
Psalms 119:9-11
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
We need to be in God’s word if we are going to keep Him first and enjoy and live being able to balance properly all the responsibilities that God has given us.
We also need to
Be in Fellowship
Slide
Hebrews 10:23-25
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The author of Hebrews again reminds us of God’s faithfulness and if we are going to continue to trust Him, we need to be in fellowship with one another, with other Christians, so we can receive encouragement during difficult times and give encouragement to others during difficult times so we can stay focused on the Lord.
We also need to
Be in Service
Slide
Paul tells us in
Romans 7:6 that “we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
God helps us focus on Him as we serve Him and others. He matures us and helps us through that service. If we are not serving, we are going to have trouble keeping God first. Through our service, He shows us how good He is and how he meets our needs.
We also need to
Be Sacrificial
Slide
The verse we read earlier in
Matthew 6:24
24 "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.
When we give of our resources, it helps us not to make it a god in our life.
The more we have, the more we should give away and I am not just talking more in terms of actual amount, but more in terms of percentage amounts.
The more we give away, the more we will be set free from the bondage of materialism.
Now I can’t tell you how much, but when we have God first in our life, He will let us know when we need to give more.
Luke 12:48 - from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
It is important, however, that we
Remember that our salvation is not about keeping rules, but about being in relationship
Slide
It is because of the relationship we have with a God who is good, that we want to glorify Him and do the things that will bring Him glory.
Doing these things will not get us into heaven.
You can give all that you have and wind up in hell.
You can serve every day of your life and have no guarantee of seeing God’s face
You can read every word of the Bible and go to church every single day and find out that none of that amounted to anything but a pile of filthy rags if you don’t know Him, if you aren’t in a relationship with Him.
Matthew 7:21
21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
What is the will of the Father?
John 6:40 - For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
Jesus goes on in the Matthew passage saying,
22 Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
I never knew you. It is all about relationship not about the rules. It is about knowing Jesus Christ, believing in Him and entering into the covenant, the New Covenant that God has made.
The only thing that we find in any of the Old Covenant, any of the 10 Commandments are practical ways to live out our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
They don’t save us and will never be able to save us.
Use them out of the gratitude of your heart as ways we can glorify the Lord and respond to the salvation and love He has given us.
Conclusion
Perhaps you have been living with other gods of your own making before the True God of heaven and earth.
Repent. Seek His forgiveness and ask for His help.
We all face temptations to replace Him, that is why we need His word, His Spirit and each other to guide us and help us stay strong.
Make the effort to Have no other gods so you can continue to grow in your relationship with the One True God and experience the full life that He provides.
Let’s pray.
