Exodus 20:1-20:6 Matthew 22:34-22:40 Mark 12:30-12:32
Exodus 20:1-20New International Version (NIV)
The Ten Commandments
20 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.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land 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 give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
What is it that will occupy your mind and your activities?
Can I see your appointment book?
Someone who was writing biographies always examined his subjects bank accounts and their appointment books because that told them the truth about the personThis mornings bible writing starts with very brief but of world shattering importance – statements. The response to these three statements will ultimately define the future of this planet that we currently stand on called earth.
It will not be Global warming, The war in Syria or even Armageddon – It will not be the transformed pond slime or evolutionary based missing links - it will be the worlds response to these three statements.
They are. 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
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1.I am the Lord your God
2.Who bought you out of slavery
they had a problem that they were able to address it, and begin to take steps to correct it.
We are beginning a series on the ten commandments and actually the first is the key to all the rest. You know many non Christians say to me – as long as you keep the 10 commandments you will be OK.
Truth is when you explore these ten commandments you find that they are right – sort this out and you’ll be right problem is for most people they can’t get the first one right. Get this and you’ve got the rest.
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
God must be number one in your and my lives.
I am the Lord your God. Can I say we live in a dark world. You don’t need to do too much or journey too far before you discover that.
In our world at the moment if you lived in Europe then the areas of most concern in a recent survey were:- from number 9 through to 1 Nuclear weapons, ,spread of infectious diseases,overpopulation, energy depletion, international terrorist threat, the economic situation, climate change, poverty hunger and the depletion of water.
No mention of not making God number one.
That is what Europe was fearing recently, the fears on the planet accumulated make a black backdrop of deep concern if it true if God did not exist – but he does and he reassures Israel as he reassures us today – I am the Lord your God. I am the Lord your God no matter how dark things get I am in control.
What does the statement I am the Lord your God say to me?
The answer: - faced with all the world fears I can take God at his word and fear not. Not just because I believe in him but because he has revealed himself repeatedly in history and always in such a way to encourage confidence in him even in incredible moments of darkness and in such a way to give us hope for the future. As the Apostle John so succinctly puts it – the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.
God says to you in the face of all that you have to live through I am the Lord your God.
There was once a man called Paul known as Saul of Tarsus. Paul was One of the greatest if not the greatest theologian on earth at that time and perhaps in world history. He was able to debate successfully against the greatest minds in the world at that time including the philosophers of Greece and the thinkers of Roman society. But Paul, learned as he was, said this:=I Corinthians 2:2: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Why? Because he had encountered the living God.
One day, a young disciple of Christ ..... desirous of wanting to become all that God has in store for him visited the home of an elderly Christian.
He had heard that this old man ..... over all the years ..... had never lost his first love for Christ.
The elderly man was sitting on the porch with his dog ..... taking in a beautiful sunset.
The young man posed this question:
"Why is it, sir, ..... that most Christians zealously chase after God during the first year or two after their conversion,
But then fall into a complacent ritual of church once or twice a week ........and end up Not looking much different than their neighbors ..... who aren't even Christians?
I have heard that you are not like that.
I have been told that you have fervently sought after God ....throughout all these years.
People see something in you ...that they do not see in most other people. ..... What makes you different?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story: One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog.
Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across the field right in front of us.
Well, my dog jumped up, and took off after that big rabbit.
He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion.
Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking.
What a sight it was, as the pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, ... up the stony embankments ..... through thickets and through the thorns!
Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, ......discouraged by the course ...... and frustrated by the chase.
Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit."
"Now...In that story, young man, .....lies the answer to your question." (Pause)
The young man sat in confused silence.
Finally, he said, ....."Sir, I don't understand.
What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"
"You fail to understand," ..... answered the well-seasoned old man, ..... "because you failed to ask the obvious question.
And that is ...."Why didn't the other dogs continue with the chase?"
And The answer to that question is ..... they had not seen the rabbit. (Long Pause)
Are you in relationship with the one true God?
Do you know Jesus are you maturing in the faith?
Is your Passion for him engrained in your very soul?
Our Lord informs us how to portray that passion: BIBLE "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 - and - you shall love your neighbor as yourself" END
So God is the Lord our God and we ought to love him. He needs to be number 1
Secondly Will you acknowledge the God who saved you?
20 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 was able to talk to the Israelites and authenticate himself as the one who had bought them out of slavery. For 400 years the Israelites had been subjected to the tyrannical hand of the Egyptians. God had delivered them and recently and they knew they had been saved.
I am the Lord your God who has bought you out of slavery. But you too have recently been delivered from slavery – not to human tyrannical rulers but from the power of sin. Only a fool or a spiritually blind person would suggest that there is no God. But today many do just that.
God has delivered us through Jesus Christ from slavery to sin.
Romans chapter 6 verse 20 The Wages of Sin
…19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.…
Jesus Christ the son of God had to die for our sins in order to delivery us from slavery.
Romans chapter 6 verse 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
When we personalise our salvation it takes on a whole lot of meaning. MY MUM’s aunty – Aunty Joanna once died. She lay on the floor dead and Mum’s cousin Donald was there and he applied mouth to mouth resuscitation. He breathed into her body and she was bought back to life. She was his Mother before but at the end of this rather dramatic resuscitation their relationship deepened. She was if you like twice his Mother.
The circumstances are different but this is what God has done for us in Christ.
God has to be number one.
But it is a voluntary relationship that we enter into there is no element of force about it.
The reason that we follow God as number one because he is our deliverer he has rescued us from a fate worse than death.
This then indroduces us to our third stage of this statement
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
This is all about relationship – I am the Lord YOUR God
In a very real sense this is a progression.
The first commandment has been summed up in modern language to be – God is number one.
I think this is all tied up in relationship. Let me attempt to explain. My Father was not a prominent figure in our town of Winton where I grew up. He worked as a carpenter at the Freezing works 14 miles away and was not in many local clubs or societies – in fact none so he was very much an anonymous person to our town.
One day my Father had a very bad crash. His broken car was towed into our town and I saw it and was horrified. As I looked into his car and saw his blood dripping off the roof I was crushed. I was horrified. Dad went to work to earn money for us and here in his attempt to do this he had been smashed I thought he might even be dead.
But a school friend over the road saw me come out of my Grandfathers garage crying. His response was to laugh out loud across the road and to tease me. Why did he do this? He didn’t understand and my Father was not his Father.
My Father, at that time was the number one person in my life – I was totally dependent on him. If he was dead then my whole life was shattered and broken. But to my friend over the road it was only of passing interest of no real significance. Because his Father was at home and he didn’t know my Father.
The connection here might be obvious to you – God can only be number one in your life if you’ve seen the rabbit. By that I mean God can only be number one in your life if you believe in him and understand that he is your Father and you are his child.
For me I love God and have had a long walk and relationship with him. But the question is how committed am I? Am I prepared to put God absolutely first.
God will by revelation show you these three points that we have talked about this morning.
“1.I am the Lord your God
2.Who bought you out of slavery
3.You shall have no other God’s before me.”
But you won’t be able to put God first make him one unless you are one in relationship with him and even if you are you need to be willing.
It is this intimacy and the willingness to yield to God which will redefine your life and make you a worthwhile servant of God in a broken world that so needs him today.
