No Other God's
Finding Freedom in the Ten Commandments • Sermon • Submitted
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· 86 viewsSeries intro and the first commandment, "have no other Gods before me". We instinctively feel bound and restricted by "laws" or "commandments", but the 10 "words" or commandments God gave Moses were not meant to restrict us or prevent us from enjoying life, they were meant to lead us to freedom. The first commandment is really the heart of all the commandments. Most people don't steal or murder, but behind each of the commandments is what you worship.
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Finding Freedom in the Law
Finding Freedom in the Law
97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Anyone here today ever said “Oh how I love the Kentucky State Statutes! It is on my mind all day long!”
That’s ridiculous isn’t it?
We know laws are necessary and helpful. They keep us safe and keep the peace and order in society, but there isn’t anything glamorous or exciting about laws.
They are restrictive and tedious.
So why would David says this about God’s Law?
He understood the nature of God’s law was not to be restrictive, but to be an avenue to freedom.
That may sound odd...
Freedom and law are not typically words that one would consider synonymous.
When we think of law, we think of rules and regulations: limiting and preventive.
When we hear the word freedom, we envision wide open spaces, limitless opportunities, boundless possibilities.
We have been deceived into thinking that doing whatever we want whenever we want is true living.
That to submit to God means submitting to a life of rules, restrictions, and certainly no fun.
Isn’t that the reason for Jesus, to free us from the bondage of the law, set us free to be who we want and live how we want?
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.
Ray Ortlund Jr., a pastor down in Nashville, teaches that everyone of the commandments does 4 things:
Jesus came not to get rid of the laws, but to fulfill the requirement of the law and to reveal the true nature of the law.
3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
romans 8 3-
In Christ we are not free from the law, we are free from the “JUST requirement of the law”.
So the Law of God is
Justice is following the law, which we are unable to do.
The Law shines light on our sinfulness and on the graciousness and glory of Jesus in coming to fulfill the law and grant us salvation in His name.
The Law was never intended to be a hindrance to joy
It is, and has always been, an avenue to eternal joy and lasting satisfaction as we live as we were created to live.
The reason we struggle seeing the ten commandments as avenues to freedom is rooted in the First Commandment.
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.
The reason we struggle so much with the concept of following laws is because we want to be the center of the universe rather than God being the center of our universe.
We want his attention
It is our natural, sinful, human inclination.
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.
It was the heart behind Adam and Eve in the garden…wanting to be like God, ultimately wanting to BE GOD.
The first commandment is that we worship “no other gods.”
We are to fear, love, and trust in God alone above all other people and things.
God should be the center of our universe, the focus of our commitment, the most important person in our life.
When anything comes in the way of God’s place in our life, then we break the first commandment.
It sounds odd, but God is a jealous God and refuses to share His glory with anything else.
And that is good news for us.
Think about a marriage.
I am a jealous husband. I do not want Pam to share the love and connection we share with any other dude.
If she came to me and said, “Hey Jeremy I met a guys at the store today who I think I love the same way I love you. I think I may start splitting my time between you and him. You cool with that?”
My obvious response would be “You are crazy and I need to load my gun.”
In the same way, God
Ray Ortlund Jr., a pastor down in Nashville, teaches that everyone of the commandments does 4 things:
Reveal God to us
Reveal God to us
Confront our sinfulness
Confront our sinfulness
Instruct our obedience
Instruct our obedience
Promise us eternal hope
Promise us eternal hope
This will serve as the outline of each of my sermons throughout the summer.
Reveals God to us
Reveals God to us
The first commandment reveals that:
God is Holy. There is nothing like God in all of Creation, because He is the creator of everything. So nothing in creation comes close to who God is.
God is worthy of all of our worship and praise. There is no other god, nor anything else that exists, that is worthy of praise and adoration.
God is worthy of all of our worship and praise. There is no other god, nor anything else that exists, that is worthy of praise and adoration.
God is sufficient for us. We do not need to appease other gods to ensure our wellbeing, trust in anything this world has to offer to meet our needs or worry about what others think of us to find value or acceptance.
God is sufficient for us. We do not need to appease other gods to ensure our wellbeing, trust in anything this world has to offer to meet our needs or worry about what others think of us to find value or acceptance.
God is trustworthy. There is no one wiser, more powerful, more capable, and more faithful than the One, true and Holy God.
God is trustworthy. There is no one wiser, more powerful, more capable, and more faithful than the One, true and Holy God.
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
God is saying “I am the Lord, in whom you can trust fully and completely.”
Confronts our sinfulness
Confronts our sinfulness
The First Commandment confronts:
Our propensity to look to created things to give us what only God can give us (peace, security, pleasure, satisfaction).
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
We make good things into GOD things when we look to those good things to give us what only God can give us.
Our propensity toward syncretism. We worship God along with the other God’s around us.
Joshua is pointing to the destructive tendency of the people of Israel (one that hasn’t changed in 1000s of years).
We want the benefits of worshipping the God of the bible, while also getting the benefits of the gods around us.
Instructs our obedience
Instructs our obedience
The First Commandment instructs us:
To STAND IN AWE of God above anything else in this world.
This is what it means to Worship.
I intentionally try not to use the word “Awesome” unless I am talking about something about God or something God did.
To TRUST God above everything else in this world.
Money, health, security, family are all good things but they are not trustworthy vessels.
God is the ONLY thing to trust in.
He is strong enough, He is wise enough, He is ENOUGH.
To CALL ON HIM above all others.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
john 14 14
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Our trust in God should drive us to prayer.
To BE THANKFUL for all He is and all He has done.
Even in struggles we can rejoice and be thankful.
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 thess 5
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
God is worthy of our thankfulness, for apart from Him we have nothing.
Promises us eternal hope
Promises us eternal hope
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
hebrew 1
The fullness of God rested on Jesus.
Every promise made by God throughout history is fulfilled in Jesus.
There is no one more worthy of our praise, our trust, and our hope than Jesus.
The Promise is, when God is the center of our life we will find the freedom and joy our hearts desire.
Even in the midst of a crooked and broken world, God is our refuge and our strength.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
What does all this mean for you?
What does all this mean for you?
Who
You need God:
Your life is falling apart because you think life will work better with you in charge.
Whether it is deteriorating health; a bad marriage; personal dissatisfaction.
Some of you are like a planet who thinks things would be better if you were at the center.
You wanted to call the shots.
Freedom is found when we surrender to Him.
The first commandment points us to Jesus, who is the very center of God’s plan.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.