Have No Other 'gods' Series

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.