Title: The 10 Commandments – I&II Script: Ex. 20
Type: Series Where: GNBC 10-6-19
Intro: I remember being a 6yrs old entering Kindergarten at Kendall Elementary School in Marion, IN, in the fall of 1972. As walked through the entry doors and stood in the foyer in plain view on the wall stood a replica of the 10 Commandments. Ten utterances. Ten words. That is how some scriptural traditions refer to the imperatives Moses brought down from Mount Sinai on stone tablets. Those utterances, known today as the Ten Commandments, transformed the world. They clarified for an emerging nation of Bronze Age refugees that deity was not simply manifest through miraculous deliverance. Yes, the God of Israel could unfathomably part the Red Sea — but instead of drawing his chosen people to him through repeated displays of awe-inspiring interventions, he would free and refine each one of them through the expectation of adhering to ethical edicts. Those straightforward laws gave the men and women of Israel choice and accountability for how each one of them related to the true and living God and for how they interacted with one another, and for generations they seemed to for us as well. They provided a code of conduct that honored family, protected life, secured property, defined boundaries, enhanced trust and thereby secured the foundation for cohesive and productive social interaction. The Ten Commandments launched into human history the hypothesis that a society could be peacefully ordered under a rule of generally applicable laws rather than the forceful whim of autocrats. But there was also more. They too, like all of the OT, pointed to the need for and the coming of man’s redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Prop: Today we will examine the first two in our series on the 10 Commandments.
BG: 1. 1st 4 Commandments relate to our duty towrds God. 2nd 6 relate to duty toward man.
2. The 10 Commandments show us our need for Christ, why we need the imputed righteousness of Christ, why we should give thanks for Christ, and how Christ, ultimately is the substance of what the Commandments promised.
3. I have bemoaned the removal of the 10 Commandments from society, yet I am a hypocrite, because I have never preached on them individually during the totality of my ministry.
Prop: Today we begin an examination of the 10 Commandments.
I. The Object of our Worship: No Other Gods. Exodus 20:1-3
A. The First Commandment is instructive on Who is to be the Sole Object of our Worship.
1. We are to have no other gods in our lives except the Lord our God!
a. The 1st Commandment is a matter of the heart. The commandment not only tells us to not worship false gods like Baal, Molech, Chemosh, Ashterah, and others that the Hebrew children would have come into contact with, it also teaches us to avoid placing anything other than the true God ahead of Him in our thoughts, actions, and affections. So, not only are we to reject literal polytheism (Narrow meaning of the verse.), we are to reject ANYTHING that competes with God for our allegiance, obedience, and affection. Ultimately, this is a matter of Lordship and God tolerates no rivals!
b. The narrow teaching of the 1st Command is not to worship any being other than the one true God. IN the Bible and in history we see 100s of false gods demanding our worship. These may be completely fictional or they may be demonic in origin (I Cor. 10:20) who sinfully attempt to claim prerogatives of God alone. Upon entering the Promised Land God told Israel to break down every pillar and altar and site of false worship, to utterly destroy every vestigae of the false Canaanite religions. (Ex. 23:24; 34:13) Why? Because God knew then as is the case today that would be a stumbling block to them.
2. The 1st Commandment Address the Issue of Worship in our Lives.
a. The 1st 4 Commands deal w/our relation to God. IN all of our relations to God we stand as worshipers. In the Bible, when people meet God, they bow down. God made man to worship and have fellowship with Him. The 1st Command deals with the exclusivity of the object of worship.
b. Illust: Some people have asked, “Why are the 10 Commandments so negative?” 8 of the 10 are stated negaitvely as prohibitions. (Only 4&5 not.) Must remember, God made a Covenant with His people, The very notion of Covenant loyalty requires us to refuse rival loyalties. Illust: I have performed dozens of weddings over the years. One of the key phrases I have said in each wedding service and required both individuals to repeat: “Keeping yourself only to each other so long as you both shall live.” Why? Marriage is an exclusive covenant by design. When someone comes to this country and becomes a US Citizen, during ceremony asked to renounce any and all foreign loyalties. Why? Covenants require loyalty. 1st Command reminds us that there are to be no rivals that will attempt to cause us to become disloyal to our God, King, and Sovereign.
B. How does Jesus Transform this Command?
1. Jesus Christ has transformed the Law.
a. In Mt. 5:17-18 Jesus states that He did not come to destroy or abolish the law, but to fulfill the Law. Jesus fulfills the Law by obeying it, but He also reveals its promises that are fulfilled by Him. Jesus fulfills the Law not simply by obeying it, but by transforming it! When Jesus came the law took on another meaning and function, Its prophetic role ended. The Law was not given as simply an abstract moral code. God’s law was given in the course of His saving work and that entire work helps to lead and point us to Christ! (Gal. 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”)
b. The Ten Commandments expose our sinful motives and behavior for what they are, namely, transgression of specific commands. And we know from experience that the Ten Commandments do not have the power to transform us or liberate us from the power of sin. So, the law is like a teacher who shows us God’s holiness, our sinfulness, and our need for salvation. And the needed divine intervention ultimately comes through Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the gospel.
By faith we receive the gift of Jesus’ law-keeping, which was perfectly achieved on our behalf, and in Him we become righteous. Therefore, we uphold the law by turning our backs on our own warped efforts to keep the law and by putting all our confidence and trust in the One who satisfied all the laws demands on our behalf (Romans 3:31).
2. God revealed Himself to us so we would not need to worship other gods.
a. Illust: People often speak of “mountaintop experiences” where they have some special spiritual event. In two glorious mountaintop experiences, God revealed Himself to His people. Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Law and then centuries later, Mark 9, when three of the disciples are with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration when Elijah and Moses supernaturally appear. Moses was the scribe of the Law and Elijah the representative of the prophets appear, speaking to Jesus. Can you imagine Moses thinking: “Hey, I have done this before!” But now he is able to see the fulfillment of the law! Now, instead of dictating 10 Commandments, God simply says one: “This is my Son, Whom I love, obey Him.” (Luke 9:35). Jesus reveals the “I AM” God in the fullest way possible. The law was but a pale reflection. Jesus Christ is the express image! (Illust: It is like walking with your head down and seeing a shadow walking beside you, only to look up and see the face of your best friend standing next to you.)
b. The 1st Command defines all others because God defines Himself, His identity, His right to speak commandments, and requirement to us to obey. Jesus is God the Redeemer, God incarnate, God with us, God the king, God the express image! (Heb. 1:3 – “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being…”) On the Mt. of Transfiguration the voice of God spoke only 1 Commandment, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.” (Lk. 9:35). This was not the 11th commandment! This was not an amendment to God’s Constitution! When Jesus came, it was to fulfill the Law, which He alone did perfectly, by perfectly fulfilling the 1st of the 10 Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
C. How does this command Apply to my Christian Life today?
1. How does this Commandment address false gods outside of the Church? Baal, Ashterah, Molech, and Chmosh have for the most part vanished form human history and worship. However, today, Allah, Brahma, Shiva, ATRs, and countless others are still with us. No one can deny Christians and Hindus worship very different gods. Although Islam’s Allah share some historical continuity with Yahweh, he is not personal, he is non-trinitarian, he is not salvific, he is not redeeming, he desires no relationship. The god of Mormonism and JWs is not the God of the Bible. The Bible states that the only true God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. How does this Commandment address the false gods of the occult? (Dt. 18:9-14 Read). Again, although the Canaanite religions are absent from today’s society, the diviners abound today. Palm Readers, astrologers, Tarot Cards, meduims, ouija boards, seances should not even be named among Christians. Christians who dabble in such things are in clear violation of the 1st commandment and need to repent of such wickedness. Illust: We have several brothers and sisters in this congregation from the DRC. 92% of the DRC are Christian. Praise the Lord! However, an overwhelming majority of Christians in the DRC still engage in use of fetishes, charms, and spells and even idols. IF you are one of those here today. Repent! You are in violation of the 1st Commandment.
3. Secret Societies – To a lot of people these were good old boy clubs and civic groups. Illust: I have learned in recent years that one of my grandfathers was a very high ranking member in the Masonic Order, Commandery. Much more than a fraternal order. According to official Masonic literature, the “god” of Masons is referred to as T.G.A.O.T.U. which is the substance of the various deities of its initiates. The Masons possess a doctrine about dead memebers that the soul of these dead brethren is in the presence of God, regardless of whether he believed in Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Brahman, Allah, or Confucious. Although a Mason is free to believe in Jesus, Christ is viewed as one of many Saviors their members may choose. Friend, the Bible says that “There is One Mediator between God and man, the Man, Jesus Christ.” (I Tim. 2:5).
D. Applic: There are many false views of God in the Church today. Beware of non Biblical worldviews. In professional tennis matches, the ball moves so quickly that players have to swing at it before their conscious minds have time to process what’s happening. I asked a friend who played against many world champions how winning tennis players mastered this. He explained that through thousands of hours of practice, they learn to recognize subtle signs given off by their opponents and fine-tune their reflexes to respond.The same is true in today’s battle of ideas. Culture rapidly fires fake views of God at us that are contrary to God’s word. If we don’t know how to recognize these worldviews or respond quickly enough, we risk being taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies (Col. 2:8).
II. The 2nd Commandment : No Idols! Exodus 20:4-6. (One of the longer commands!)
A. This is a prohibition against false worship.
1. What was the context of this command.
a. As we have seen, the 1st Command speaks to the object of worship, the 2nd urges us to worship only according to God’s revelation of Himself. Man is by nature a worshiper. Man is also by nature an idolater. Think of all of the false “gods” we worship!
b. “Idolatry” carrys 2 meanings: 1. Worshiping a false god. 2. Worshiping any god by means of an idol. There is without a doubt an intimate connection between the first and the 2nd commandment.
2. Now, one of the questions this Command begs us to ask is: “Are all images always bad?”
a. Illust: Some have asked if all images/art, etc. then always wrong? No! The Church has always been supportive of and often the leader producer of art throughout the ages. Think of the splendors of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Many Christian Universities today, including some of the most fundamental (Bob Jones) have stunning art collections. Let me remind you that it was ISIS/Taliban that were just a few years ago destroying the great works of antiquity in Iraq and Syria, largest statue/sculpture of Buddha (Bardian Buddha statues in 2001) (Afghanistan). Why? Because Islam confuses this and says there are to no images of anything at all! The Lord would certainly never contradict Himself; therefore, many scholars have concluded that the only thing prohibited in the second commandment is a picture or other image of that which has not been visibly revealed of the Godhead — the divine essence. Depictions of that which has been revealed, including all of creation, are allowed. To be sure, there may be some contexts where the introduction of such images may not be wise, as they might prompt the people to worship falsely. Still, there is no universal rule against art in our places of worship.
b. In Ex. 25:18-20 God Himself in the context of worship, instructs Moses to “make 2 cherubim of gold” to put at both ends of the mercy seat, the most holy place of the tabernacle and later temple! In fact, in both the tabernacle and the temple, there was much ornate imagery – lamp stand like tree, cups like almond blossoms, priests garments, carved wood, cherubim and palm trees were engraved in many locations. Numbers 21 Moses had a serpent fashioned to a pole to be lifted up for people to look to in order to be saved. It is impossible to conclude that making images or art work is wrong. Quite the opposite, God Himself is the greatest artist of all time.
B. As Christians, we must ask ourselves again, How does Christ Transform this Command?
1. Certainly Christ transforms this as well as every other command.
a. Illust: Years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick the liberal pastor of NYC’s Riverside Church once preached a message “The Peril of Worshiping Jesus”. Accord toe Fosdick’s logic, worshiping Jesus is idolatry since Jesus was a man. Was he right? Do we break the 2nd commandment by worshiping a man? Yes. However, we DO NOT break the command if we are worshiping the Son of God Who is fully God and fully man and is the image of God.
b. The 2nd command cannot mean there never was nor will be an image of God. Why? Cause God made man in His image! (Gen. 1:26). Illust: Dr. Francis Schaeffer said God is the “God who is there.” He created man to reflect His nature.
2. The 2nd Command affirms that only God can make an image of Himself.
a. God had chose to reveal Himself to man. God took the first step. Man could not have known God apart from His effort to express Himself. Illust: The image of God the Father is seen in God the Son. READ Mt. 22:17-21 – Illust: Jesus gave us insight as He answered the questions of the hypocrites, He said when handed a coin: “Give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s.” In other words, give to Caesar what bears his image and give to God that which bears His image. We give God back His image by giving ourselves wholly and completely to Him! Col. 2:9 – Jesus understood better than anyone else! “In Him all the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form.”
b. The promise of the 2nd Command – Illust- At Sinai Israel heard a voice but saw no image! Incomplete. We see the same element of incompleteness in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, the lid of gold and 2 cherubim, however, the lid of the mercy seat sat VACANT! That void contained a promise for us for whom that mercy seat was reserved, Jesus Christ! No man or idol cast can sit on that seat save Christ alone. God sent His incarnate Son to fill that seat for your and my salvation! You see, the incarnate Christ is not some vain human attempt to create an image of the living God, Christ is God’s gracious gift of an anointed, express image we are in fact commanded to worship. (Clowney p. 27).
C. How does this Command Apply to the Church today?
1.
a.Illust: Some contemporary evangelical leaders today calling for us to distance ourselves from the OT Law. No less a teacher than Andy Stanley has said in his book, “Irresistable” (Not about grace!) I that the church with its modern version of faith is ineffective and too easily resisted. Stanley conjectures that the modern church and Christianity are resistible because the Old Testament is mixed into Christianity and that believers sense the need to defend the Old Testament’s historicity and accuracy, which leads to alienating “post-Christians.” He believes the law needs to be dumped. Truthfully, I wonder where he came up with such a ludicrous position. W/o the OT you have no NT. Without the Promise, Prediction, Prophecy, of Christ you would not have had the Person of Christ.
b. Therefore, God’s law is still authoritative and necessary for Christians today. Jesus did not so much replace the Old Testament law as make explicit its proper application to the heart and not just external behavior (Romans 6:14, 8:1-4). Jesus’ idea of obedience moves beyond religious observance, focusing not only on the things we do but on who we are (Matthew 5–7). Only the gospel changes the heart and can lead to lasting change in our lives.You will remember that when asked by one of the religious leaders to identify the greatest commandment in all of the law, Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands. –Matthew 22:37-40 (HCSB)
In many ways, Jesus’ response summarized the heart of the Ten Commandments.
2. Finally, this truth forces us to remember that in order for people to correctly worship they must know the Gospel of Christ and not some other false Gospel the Church today that are there becaue we have adopted an idol of our own creation to worship.
a. True idolatry, so hated by God, is ultimately, the worship of anything or anyone other than God. Idolatry was Israel’s great sin in the OT. When Aaron sinned by giving Israel a golden calf at the foot of Sinai, he appointed a feast to the Lord, confusing God’s people by allowing them to believe that they could still worship God while bowing down to a calf.
b. Illust: The other night I was watching a tv program and a commercial came on. Remember, commercials are not passive. They are pushing a message or a worldview “What do you do to clear your mind?” A young woman doing yoga. Pan to a Buddha – meditation, pan to artistic decorations – feng shuay. Pan to crystals. Pan to a goat behind the woman – Goat yoga! Shouldn’t start with clean air and nice climate in your home? Lennox HVAC! I understand attempt to be funny…but all were attempts at idolatry.
D. Applic: We have just started off in our journey in the 10 Commandments. I do not want a single one of us to leave this morning thinking: “I must keep these two command in order to be saved!” NO! Illust: 18th cent British evangelical George Whitefield once asked: “Can a man’s work save him? It would be easier for a man to pull himself to heaven by a rope made of sand than to save himself by his works!” My heart’s desire is that if you are not saved that you will see your personal failure in those two commands and throw self on the mercy of Christ, Who we see perfectly fulfills and transforms them both.
