The Ten Commandments
God and God Alone
Exodus 20:1-3
Now, when you look at these Ten Commandments you will immediately notice that they group themselves into two major divisions.
The first four are God-centered. They have to do with man's relationship to God. The next six are man-centered. They have to do with man’s relationship to man.
One time they asked the Lord Jesus what was the greatest commandment of all. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “ love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Then He said, “The second is very much like the first: Love your neighbor as yourself”.
Jesus just grouped the Ten Commandments into two sections. Number one - love God with everything you have. God-centered commandments. Number two - love your neighbor as yourself. Man-centered commandments.
The first four have to do with our relationship to God. Number one talks about the unity of God. No other Gods before me. Number two talks about the spirituality of God. Do not make unto me any graven images. Number three talks about the deity of God. Do not take my name in vain. Number four talks about the sanctity of God. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
So as we study the first four we will be focusing our attention upon God. Isn't it interesting that in the Ten Commandments, God's guidelines for living, that we begin with God? That's always where you begin.
The Bible begins that way. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good way to start a world. And it’s a pretty good way to start a life. Put God first in your life. The Ten Commandments begin with a statement of the primacy of God being number one.
The Ten Commandments begin with
1. An Assertion
The very first thing we encounter is the reality of God.
verse 2
"I am the Lord your God." It is a statement of the reality of God. The statement assumes the reality of God. It assumes the existence of God. Philosophers through the ages have sought to prove the existence of God, but the Bible nowhere tries to prove the existence of God.
In Psalm 53:1 the Bible says the fool hath said in his heart there is no God. A man is a fool who denies fact. So, a man must be the supreme fool who denies the supreme fact. Atheism is not a problem of the head, it's a problem of the heart. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. His head knows better.
This is another one of those verses where some words are in italics. When you take those words out it says: the fool hath said no god. He is basically saying that it is not that God does not exist, but he is basically saying that I'm not interested in God.
That's just like you are sitting at a meal sometime and they pass by the cherry pie. You say, no pie. That does not mean the pie does not exist, it just means that no pie for you at that particular time.
There are a lot of people who though they may not intellectually deny the existence of God practically they deny His existence because they say no God for me. I'm not interested in God. I do not want God intruding in my life. But this statement assumes the existence of God.
R. G. Lee, that great preacher from Memphis, used to say that the belief in God is the fundamental postulate of all rational thinking. That is exactly true. You can't even think straight if you do not believe in the existence of a god.
It is not the existence of God that is in discussion here. He is rather talking about the unity of God. He is saying I am the Lord God, no other gods before me. He is asserting the fact that God is one God.
Deuteronomy 6:4 the Bible says the Lord our
God is one Lord. Israel had just come out of the land of Egypt. They had seen the Lord God demolish the gods of Egypt. Now God asserts His sole existence. God is not plural. God is one. "The Lord our God is one Lord."
He is saying that God is not the chairman of the board of gods. He is the only God there is. There is one God.
What kind of God is this one God? He tells us in the opening verses of this statement.
"I am the Lord thy God."
The word, Lord, there is the word, Jehovah. Jehovah is God's specific name. It points to His works. It reminds us that he is the God who was, the God Who is, the God Who ever shall be. He is Jehovah God.
Moses was on that same mountain in those wilderness years. When God revealed himself to Moses out of the burning bush and Moses said who will I tell the people has sent me. He said tell them "I am hath sent thee." Jehovah hath sent thee. The God who was, the God who is and the God who ever
shall be.
In the New Testament understanding of that Jehovah God has revealed himself in the person of his son the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Colossians 1 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.
Hebrews 1:3 says he is the express image of his person.
In John 1:18 the Bible says that no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him.
So when the Old Testament asserts the reality of God, “I am Jehovah”, you and I as New Testament believers know that we are referring to none other than our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
In John's gospel he took that same "I am" title and applied it to himself.
"Before Abraham was I am. I am the way the truth and the life. I am the Bread of Life. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the Alpha and Omega."
That's the God we are talking about. He is the God who is Jehovah.
But he is also god. "I am the Lord God." The word there is the word, “Elohim”, which is the word which refers specifically to his creative activity. He is the God who brought this universe into existence.
Here is a statement that God is the God who created everything there is. I think about the vastness of our creation. Yet, the Bible tells us that the Lord God made it all. I think about the minuteness of our creation. Looking into a microscope you find that smaller and smaller worlds unfold before your gaze.
Video done back in 1972 by IBM research department. . .
And just remember, the Lord God made all of it! This is who it is that is giving us these commandments. It is the Lord God of creation.
Not only the Lord of creation, he's the Lord of redemption. He says I have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. They had crossed over the Red Sea. They had been redeemed by the blood of a substitutionary lamb. They had been led by miracle power through the Red Sea on dry ground. God said don't ever forget I am the God of redemption.
In New Testament terminology Jesus Christ is our redeemer. The Bible says if the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Isn't it wonderful to know that we are redeemed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The living God is creator, he is the loving God and He is the Savior - He is Jesus Christ our Lord. So, this commandment sets before us the reality of God. That is the assertion.
There is also
2. A Prohibition
In this first commandment we see also the rivals to God.
verse 3
Now the problem that is addressed here is not atheism, but polytheism. He is not battling those who say there is no God, but those who say there is more than one.
How many Gods are there? God says I am the Lord thy God, no other Gods before me. He is simply saying I will have no rivals. I am the only God there is.
Just think about this statement for a moment. "No other gods before me." Now there is an unspoken possibility that is contained in that phrase and it is that people could place other gods before the only God who is real. Is that possible?
Obviously it is. Israel had just come out of polytheistic Egypt and they were on their way into polytheistic Canaan and God said to them don't have any other gods before me. You and I know that God had hardly spoken the commandment when the children of Israel themselves violated this first commandment.
Exodus 32 tells us they said, “We don’t know what’s happened to Moses so let’s make us some gods.” That’s verse 1. Later when Moses arrives Aaron says, “I don’t know how to explain this but the people got upset and wanted gods and I threw some gold in the fire and out came this calf.
And from that point forward, you will find that the Children of Israel seemed to be addicted to polytheism. They worshiped gods of the peoples around them.
There was baal peior, the god of corruption. There was baal zebub the lord of the flies. There was molock the fire god. The Israelites even stooped to offering their own sons and daughters in the flames to Molock. You say, how pagan! How uncivilized that people would be guilty of polytheism.
Yet, old gods never die. They just come back in new clothing. We are living in an America where people are worshiping still other gods besides the Lord God. Could Christians even be guilty of that?
The Bible says to beware of covetousness which is idolatry. The Bible warns of people who become covetous for material things, who get money conscious and put money before the worship of God.
The Bible tells us people can make a god out of pleasure. II Timothy 3:4 says that people become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. In America we have become so sports mad and so amusement crazed that we put those before the worship of the Lord God every week.
Sex has been made a god. You can hardly pick up a modern novel without finding a preoccupation with sex. You can hardly turn on the television by means of advertisements and movies without seeing the preoccupation of sex.
Some have made a god out of education. It's wonderful to get an education. But education is a means to an end. It is not an end unto itself.
There are all kinds of things that people put before or in place of a relationship with God. So it is not only a possibility, it is a reality. But it is a perversion of what God desires from us.
Loyalty to a false god, a substitute god involves disloyalty to the true God. You can't be loyal to both at the same time. Jesus said no man can serve two masters. It's just like going east or going west. You can't go west while you are going east. You can't go east while you are going west. You are either going east or west but you can't go both at the same time.
The same thing is true about God. You can't be faithful to the true God and be a faithful to a false god at the same time. For people to try to hold on to the true God and be faithful to Him and to be faithful to their own false god at the same time is like a man who has a lover and he brings that lover right into his own house to live with his wife and children. That is a perversion of God’s decision. Of course, perversion seems to be very popular in America right now, even with our Supreme Court.
And when people worship a false god it is a perversion of God’s best. And that creates a real problem.
God said, "You shall have no other gods before me." You could translate that "in the place of me." That would mean a substitute god or it could mean alongside me as an additional god. And here’s the problem with that: you become like the god you worship.
Your morals will reflect the kind of god you worship. You look at the gods that America is worshiping tonight and you will find that American people are becoming exactly like the gods they are worshiping.
Also, if you are polytheistic in your worship, you will be polytheistic in your personality. The Bible calls it idolatry. Psychology calls it neurosis. When people begin to worship many gods and have many loyalties in their lives instead of that one central loyalty to the Lord it causes disintegration of human personality.
So there is a prohibition here against the rivals of God.
There is also
3. An Invitation
"Thou shall have no other gods before me." It is certainly implied in this commandment that if you are willing to have no other gods, you can have me. If you will put other gods on the go, God says I'll show up.
The tremendous invitation in this command of God is to give reverence to Him. To give reverence to the God who is real -- the God who will book no rivals. This statement means that you and I can know God personally.
That's one of the most astounding concepts ever to grip the human heart -- that we can know God personally. To think that the great God of creation would condescend to reveal Himself to you and to me is almost unfathomable. Job said canst thou by searching find out God? The answer is no.
Jesus said in Matthew 11 - 0, father, lord of heaven and earth, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes.”
You can't find God by your own intellect. You can't discover God by your own reasoning processes, but if you want to know God you can- know God personally.
In John 17;3 Jesus said this is life eternal that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
Paul spoke to a group on one of his missionary journeys in Acts 14 - turn from these vanities to serve the living God. He said to the believers in Thessalonica 1;9 - how that you turn to God from idols to serve the -living and the true God.
If you want to know God you can meet Him in a personal way. You can know Him initially in the salvation experience. You can know Him increasingly as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. You can know Him infinitely. You can enjoy the presence and knowledge of God throughout eternity. You can know God personally.
When Jesus was being tempted of the devil and the devil tempted Jesus to fall down and worship him Jesus said, get thee hence, it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God and Him only shall thou serve. You can love God supremely -- God and God alone. Put Him absolutely number one. Make Him first in your life. You can love Him supremely.
You can worship Him humbly. There is not greater privilege given to a human being than the privilege of bowing before the great God of this universe and to remove from our heart and life any other competing idol, any rival God and worship God and God alone.
Look at verse 2 - the Lord says, “I am the Lord your Gad”. He is simply saying I can be real personally to you. It's not enough to say there is a God. It's not enough for you to just say He is the God. You need to be able to say He is my God. The Lord is MY Shepherd I shall not want. Can you say that tonight? Can you say Jesus is MY Savior? He is MY Lord. He is MY God.
I think about Thomas. There is so much of Thomas in all of us. After the Lord Jesus Christ was raised again from the dead Thomas said I won't believe it until I put my hand in the nail prints, until I thrust my hands into the side. So, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself in His resurrection glory to the disciples on that Sunday night. He said ok, Thomas, put your fingers in the nail prints. Put your hand in the side. Thomas stands before the Living Lord Jesus and he says, "My Lord and my God."
Can you say that? That's really what this whole service is about. You cannot believe in someone, you cannot call on someone to save you in whom you have not believed. You can't believe in someone of whom you have not heard. You can't hear unless God sends a preacher.
In the Book of Romans the 10th chapter exactly explains what God is doing in this service tonight. God has sent the preacher. The preacher has preached God's Word. You have heard God's Word. Will you believe it? Will you believe that this God is knowable; lovable; worthy of our worship?
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you will call on Him, you will come to know this God in a personal kind of way. That's our invitation tonight. Come to the Lord and meet Him in
a personal way.
Let’s Pray
