No Other Gods Series

Dakota Community Church

July 6, 2014

No Other Gods

Summer Series at Dakota: The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:1-20

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.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's.”

18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

Refresh: An example of the three uses of the law: "You shall not steal".

The first use of this commandment reveals that stealing is a sin condemned by God and that we are inclined to steal. If we steal we need pardon. Since forgiveness is only in Christ, the law leads us to Christ in repentance and faith.

In the civil use of the law, society is directed concerning the responsibility of the state to protect property, etc. Laws and their respective punishments consistent with this commandment should exist to inhibit theft.

In the moral use of the law, we see that this law remains for the Christian as a necessary guide for his path of holiness. By this law we know what God expects and the high goal of holiness to which we should aim. We are reminded to avoid stealing and to cultivate honest relations with one another. Richard Pratt, General Editor. Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Zondervan, 2003.

Background and Context

Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Joseph - Egypt - 440 years between Gen. 50 & Ex. 1 - New Pharaoh

God’s covenant people, crying out for deliverance from slavery.

God hears and answers their prayers telling Pharaoh to let His people go.

Pharaoh thinks he is god, doesn’t want to obey the real God.

Plagues and punishments ensue culminating in judgement - death to every firstborn in Egypt.

God pours out His wrath but mercifully provides a way to escape that judgement.

God’s people would gather as families, take a spotless lamb without blemish or defect, acknowledge their sins and slaughter the lamb as their substitute.

Then as a public demonstration of their faith they would paint the door posts of their homes with the blood of the lamb.

Death came to carry out the judgement of God to every house in the land but would literally PASS OVER the houses whose sins had already been punished as demonstrated by the shed blood of the lamb.

A supernatural deliverance accomplished by a sacrificial lamb. Who is this book about?

Luke 24:25-27