"The First Commandment"

INTRODUCTION

If you have your Bibles go ahead and turn to Exodus 20.

This morning we are going to take a dive into the TEN COMMANDMENTS

God gave us His Ten Commandments to show us His holiness and righteousness

He also gave them to show us the sinfulness and weakness of mankind

God’s law was to lead us to Christ and to be a BLUEPRINT for godly living

In Exodus 20:3 we are given the FIRST of the Ten Commandments

The same principle of the first commandment can be found in Mark 12:29-30

English Standard Version Chapter 12

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

The commandments show a need within us that we NEED a Savior

Let us go ahead and read our passage.

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.

PRAY!

English Standard Version Chapter 20

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

This is the FIRST commandment and this is the MOST important commandment

It is CRITICAL in our relationship with others and with God that we follow this commandment

There is a reason this is the FIRST commandment

This commandment is the FOUNDATION of our faith in God

If we don’t worship our Lord then we worship in vain

When we don’t worship our Lord and we worship something else then we accomplish NOTHING

I know what you MAYBE thinking

“Well I don’t worship anything else but Jesus”

You MAYBE right about that

BUT, there are many things that can BECOME gods in our lives

In order to have NO OTHER gods before the One True God then you HAVE to make sure He is FIRST in your life

The reason why this commandment is FIRST is simple

We FORGET that there is a God of SELF

There are a few people we can learn about in Scripture that fell into worshiping the God of Self

Eve, the serpent went to her and said, “you can be as gods, knowing good and evil”

David, saw Bathsheba and took what HE wanted

Judas worshiped the God of self by selling Jesus over for a few shekels

Romans 5:12

English Standard Version Chapter 5

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Because of worshiping the God of SELF it destroyed FELLOWSHIP with God

It is a down trickle in your life though

This command is the first commandment BECAUSE

EVERYTHING must begin with God

If it doesn’t then it will eventually fail

Your business will fail if God isn’t first

The CHURCH definitely will fail if God isn’t first

It is IMPORTANT to PRAY before making a decision because if you don’t then you are worshiping yourself

Your marriage will fail if you don’t have God FIRST

The number one is the number of UNITY, PRIMACY, and BEGINNING

If we are going to have UNITY with the Lord, He MUST be the Lord of our life

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth

God was IN the beginning

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We MUST seek Him first, not second or third or last but FIRST

The FIRST command in the NT is Matt. 22:37

English Standard Version Chapter 22

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

In order to LOVE Him He MUST be first

The first fruit of the harvest is God’s

The Lord is to be:

The head of the home

If God is not the head of your home then you have set your children and grandchildren up for failure

This is supposed to be a down trickle Men

God should be FIRST in our personal lives

Then our wives will see how important God is in our lives

Our Children will see how important God is

The chances for them to be saved AUTOMATICALLY goes up

The chief of the church our choices and children

God is the one who is over the church

Nothing we do negates that

We can’t come in and get possessive over different ministries and think it is OURS because we have done it for years

We need to remember that it is GOD’S

EVERY SINGLE choice we make we should go to the Lord and PRAY about it

It is important to go to our MASTER before we decide to become the Lord over our own lives

When we make decisions before we go to the Lord the results at the end could be CATASTROPHIC

The people of Israel will do this when Moses is upon the Mountain

The people of Israel did this when they wanted a King

Anytime in our personal lives we end up doing this and falling on our faces

Same thing with our Children

If we aren’t going to Our master on how to raise our children then we will FAIL as parents

He is The leader of our love and loyalties

Paramount in our plans and priorities

Supreme in our service and sacrifices

The ruler in our relationships with others

God is to be FIRST, not second and not tied for first

No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

Hannah was able to be a GREAT mother because she put God first in her life

God saw her in her agony of wanting a child

Hannah knew exactly where to take her burden

She made a vow to God

She kept her promise to God (1 Samuel 1)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE GOD BE OUR GOD?

He BECOMES your God when you invite Jesus into your life to be your Savior

To have God be a God to us is to ACKNOWLEDGE Him as God

In other words, you are saying, “Lord, you are MY God”

To have God be as our God is to CHOOSE Him

Having God isn’t about chance, it is about choice

Before you choose Him there must be knowledge of Him

You have heard the word of God so you chose to believe

To have God as our God is to give Him ADORATION

Adoration INVOLVES Worship OF Him

Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

To have God as our God is to fear Him

We are to have REVERENCE and RESPECT for Him

We shouldn’t want to disappoint Him by living sinful lives

He should be the main focus of our lives

Having God as our God is to trust Him

Trusting the Lord involves relying upon His power as CREATOR and to commit our chief treasure, our soul, to Him

Having God as our God is to love and obey Him

The text says, “You shall have no other gods BEFORE ME”

This means “before my face or in my sight”

Secretly bowing to idols is still seen by the Lord

Serving false gods or joining idols with the worship of the Lord is wrong

Doing this forsakes the Lord

In the Roman Empire, you could worship any god you wished, as long as you offered incense to Caesar's idol and acknowledged him as God

Christians in that time wouldn’t compromise to that and they were martyred for Christ

WHAT ARE SOME OTHER GODS BESIDES SELF?

ANYTHING that can control the heart can be a god

Money

If you look to money as the end all be all you have already showed what your God is

If you look to the money in the church bank as your personal money you have now misunderstood what is Gods

You may find comfort in riches but you won’t find confidence

What I mean by that is, money won’t get you to heaven

Flesh

When you trust in your own strength

Having a “I can do it MYSELF” attitude

The Syrians trusted in their army and it withered to nothing (1 Kings 20)

Whatever we make our TRUST, God makes our shame if it isn’t in Him

Security turns into INSECURITY

Confidence turns into CONFUSION

Goodness can be another god

If you trust you are good enough to get to heaven you have failed

If you think anyone else can get to heaven on their goodness you are mislead

Men may be washed, but not changed

You may have a CIVIL life but at the heart of men sin still reigns in the heart

Pleasure can be a god

Alcohol and drugs

Mighty men have fallen because of Alcohol

Noah is a prime example of that

David fell into a pleasure as well

Another person

If you aren’t careful a person can become a god in your life

Boyfriend or Girlfriend

Husband or Wife

Your Children

A Friend

When a relationship with a person hurts our walk with God, then we have made that person MORE important than the Lord

There are a lot of people that stop going to church after they start dating someone

After they have gotten married

After they have had a baby

INVITATION

There are MANY things in this life that can be considered a god

The point is we aren’t to have ANYTHING above the Lord

He is supposed to be our God

He is the one who came and died in our place

He is the one who conquered the grave

He carried our shame and sin up to Calvary

We HAVE to be careful with what we have as the number 1 thing in our lives

If God isn’t first then we have failed the first commandment