Have No Other Gods - First Commandment

The Ten Commandments

Have No Other God – First Commandment

June 3, 2018

Exodus 20

Exodus 34 – similar list

Deuteronomy 5

• The Ten Commandments are repeatedly referenced, alluded to, or expanded upon throughout the Bible.

• Most famously, Jesus mentioned several of them in his most well-known sermon,

the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17-48).

• These commandments have played a huge role in Christian history.

• Most of the Church’s leaders including Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and more included a section on the Ten Commandments in their most significant writings.

• These tablets were stored in the Ark of the Covenant and placed in the most holy place in Israel’s Temple.

• They are kept where God himself dwells with his people. Most importantly, it’s the centerpiece of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel.

Exodus 20:1-2 NIV

“And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

God’s first word is grace!

The 10 Commandments reveal God’s grace to his freed people.

The laws were not given to a group of people so that they might be saved.

They were given to a group of people who had been saved, so that they might live free lives.

v.3 - "You shall have no other gods before me.”

They were living in a polytheistic world. There was a god for everything!

Gods for food, health and fertility. Examples: Baal, Asherah

Matthew 6:24 NIV

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Imagine, on your wedding day, telling your fiancé, you’re going to have some other wives because she may not be enough.

Do we depend on God for everything?

Are we looking for others to do what only God can do?

There’s a second meaning to the 1st Commandment.

We must keep our faces pointed toward God.

Isaiah 50:7 NIV

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …”

We’re all easily distracted!

Who has captured our attention?

God is faithful to us and He wants us to be faithful to Him. Even when we’re unfaithful, God honors his covenant.