Good morning. My name is Sean. For those of you who are new or don't know me, it's good to see some faces coming back from summer break and traveling.
It's good to see some new faces as well. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20.
We've been in a series in the book of Exodus for a while now. If you don't have a Bible, if you raise your hand, we have some people around us who can bring you a Bible that you can use while you're here.
We're in chapter 20, which is where we find the famous Ten Commandments of the Bible.
We're going to do a mini-series within our series in the book of Exodus. We're going to slow way down and take ten weeks to cover the Ten Commandments, one commandment at a time.
I know that's the slower pace than we usually go through the Bible, but I think it will serve us.
So Exodus 20, 1-3, let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father,
Your law is perfect.
It is sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.
It refreshes our souls.
And so we incline
our ears and our hearts
to Your Word once again.
May the words of our mouths
and the meditations
of all of our hearts
be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, our rock and redeemer.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you would please stand with me for the reading of God's Word
from Exodus 20.
I will read just verses 1, 2, 3.
And God spoke all these words,
saying,
I am the Lord,
your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
This is God's holy and authoritative Word.
Please be seated.
The Ten Commandments are arguably the best known verses
in all of the Old Testament.
You know,
substantive philosophers and legal scholars
from all generations
have wrestled with its meaning
and significance,
including from Philo
to King Alfred,
Thomas Aquinas,
John Calvin,
Thomas Hobbes,
John Locke,
Montesquieu,
Immanuel Kant,
Thomas Jefferson,
Pascal,
Spinoza,
Nietzsche,
and more.
But despite its indisputable influence
and impact on human civilization,
people have also rebelled against
the Ten Commandments in every age.
In fact,
it has become fashionable
in the 20th and 21st century
to devise one's own Ten Commandments,
to replace the original Ten Commandments.
Bertrand Russell,
the British philosopher and mathematician
and a famous atheist,
formulated his own Ten Commandments in 1951.
Michael Schmidt Salomon,
a German philosopher,
devised his own set of Ten Commandments
in his 2005 book,
Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism.
Richard Dawkins,
the English biologist
and a promulgator of atheism,
wrote his own alternative Ten Commandments
in his book,
The God Delusion,
in 2006.
And his compatriot,
Christopher Hitchens,
the English journalist,
wrote his own version
in a 2010 Vanity Fair article.
And the latest one I'm aware of
is Lex Bair and John Figdors.
John Figdor was formerly
an atheist humanist chaplain
at Stanford University.
And as a publicity stunt,
they crowdsourced a new version
of the Ten Commandments
with submissions by nearly 3,000 or so people.
And then they wrote their own version
of the Ten Commandments
and published it in a book
called Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart,
rewriting the Ten Commandments
for the 21st century.
It's from 2014.
And they cheekily call their Ten Commandments
the Ten Non-Commandments.
And as I read through these
pseudo Ten Commandments,
I noticed some fascinating overlaps.
For example,
they invariably contain a commandment
that is explicitly a rejection
of divine authority
and a reification of human ability
to discern truth for itself.
One of Bertrand Russell's commandment is,
have no respect for the authority of others,
for there are always contrary authorities
to be found.
Michael Schmidt Solomon says,
have no fear of authorities,
but rather the courage to reason for yourself.
Richard Dawkins writes,
form independent opinion
on the basis of your own reason and experience.
Do not allow yourself
to be led blindly by others.
Question everything.
Christopher Hitchens' last commandment is this,
be willing to renounce any God or any faith
if any holy commandments
should contradict any of the above,
meaning any of Christopher Hitchens' Ten Commandments.
Christopher Hitchens baldly claims
to be the final arbiter of truth
in place of God.
The crowdsourced version of Bayer
and Figdor's Ten Commandments says,
God is not necessary to be a good person
or to live a full and meaningful life.
There is no one right way to live.
And their official version says,
there is no God.
There is no universal moral truth.
Our experiences and preferences
shape our sense of how to behave.
Fascinating overlaps.
In summary,
every single one of these
Pseudo-Ten Commandments
remove divine authority
as the foundation for morality
and replaces it with human authority.
It takes God out of the center of life
and puts man at the center of it
and that is the biblical definition
of sin and pride.
These man-made Ten Commandments
not surprisingly lack a foundation
and are full of contradictions.
Several of them include the golden rule
which is taken from Matthew 7, 12.
Whatever you wish that others would do to you,
do also to them.
They also include,
they include that from the Bible
without any sense of irony.
And then several of them propound moral relativism.
They say there is no moral truth.
But then immediately, side by side,
they make absolute moral claims
that people have to obey.
I mean, if there is no one right way to live,
how can you even have Ten Commandments?
As renowned Yale law professor
Arthur Allen Leff once noted in his article,
in the presumed absence of God,
the only available evaluators are people.
Then only a determinate and reasonably small number
of kinds of ethical and legal systems
can be generated.
Each such system will be strongly differentiated
by the axiomatic answer it chooses to give
to one key question.
Who among us ought to be able to declare law
that ought to be obeyed?
Stated that baldly,
the question is so intellectually unsettling
that one would expect to find
a noticeable number of legal and ethical thinkers
trying not to come to grips with it.
Either God exists or he does not.
But if he does not,
nothing and no one else can take his place.
So we're back to square zero.
And we come to appreciate the wisdom
of Exodus 20 verse 1.
And God spoke all these words.
The foundation of human morality
is not man, but God.
Only God can speak into law
what ought to be obeyed by all of humanity.
Human reason is woefully inadequate foundation
for human life.
We need divine revelation.
Verse 1 emphasizes that these are the words
of God himself,
twice using the Hebrew word for word,
once in the noun form,
all these words,
and then once in the verbal form,
God said, saying.
So this is why what we know
the Ten Commandments,
what we know as the Ten Commandments
are called traditionally the Ten Words.
That's what it means in Hebrew,
the Ten Words of God.
That's what it's called in Exodus 34, 28,
Deuteronomy 4, 13.
And that's why sometimes the Ten Commandments
are called the Decalogue.
You've probably heard that before.
That's from the Greek words,
to make up ten words.
That's what it means.
And these are not ten impersonal laws
or abstract commandments or principles
that are derived from some rationality
or human culture.
They are not laws devised by men
in order to control the masses.
No, they are ten words that God spoke.
And therefore they carry divine authority.
This is the first striking insight
from this passage.
The Lord is a speaking God.
Scripture repeatedly makes the point
that while the idols of the world
cannot speak,
the Lord, the true God, speaks.
Jeremiah 10, 5 mocks the idols of this world
precisely at this point.
It says their idols are like scarecrows
in a cucumber field
and they cannot speak.
A God that does not speak
can be manipulated to our liking.
We can speak for that God.
We can put words in his mouth.
And this is precisely what sinful human beings
want to do.
We want to call the shots.
We want to be in the driver's seat.
As Peter Jensen, an Australian bishop
and theologian, writes in his book
at the heart of the universe,
we would prefer a dumb, dark thing,
a non-relational, far away God
to be approached on our own terms
and worshipped as we see fit.
We want a God that we can approach
on our own terms.
We want a God that we can worship
when it's convenient
and when we feel like it.
We want a God that helps us
fit in with the culture
and makes us popular with the world.
We want a God who will comfort us
and make us feel better about ourselves
without making any uncomfortable
or difficult demands of us.
We want a God who conforms
to our agendas and sensibilities,
not a God who demands
our allegiance and submission.
But approaching God on our own terms
and worshipping him as we see fit
is not possible
when it comes to Yahweh
because he speaks.
The Lord defines himself.
We cannot define him to our liking.
The Lord speaks the words
to which we, you and I,
are held accountable.
We cannot put our own words
in his mouth.
And the first thing
that the Lord speaks in verse 2
is his name, his identity.
I am the Lord.
When the word Lord appears
in all caps in the Bible,
as I've mentioned before,
it's a rendering of
the four consonant name of God.
In English, Y-H-W-H,
Yahweh or Yehovah.
Earlier in chapter 3,
the Lord revealed the meaning
of his name to Moses
saying, I am who I am.
That means the Lord, Yahweh,
is self-existent.
He is sovereign.
All other beings
are derivative
and dependent.
But God is self-existent
and independent,
not dependent on anything else.
It also means that
he is unchanging
and timeless.
He is not different
from who he was.
And who he was
is not different
from who he will be.
He is the same yesterday,
today,
and forever.
He was and is
and will be.
That is what it means
to be the I am who I am.
And that means
God is faithful.
He is always true to himself,
faithful to his character.
You and I,
because we're fallible
and sinful,
we can fold under pressure
and act out of character
in a manner
that is inconsistent
with our own convictions.
But God never does that
because he is the I am who I am.
The words of man
fall to the ground,
but the word of the Lord
never falls to the ground.
Human checks bounce.
Human deals fall through.
Human guarantees fail.
But the promises of the Lord
always prove true.
So when God made his promise
to deliver Israel
from their slavery in Egypt,
he was signing on the dotted line
when he declared his name,
Yahweh.
He was putting his glory
and reputation on the line.
And here in Exodus 20,
verse 2,
we are reminded of the fact
that Yahweh has made good
on his promises.
I am the Lord your God
who brought you out
of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
He has done it.
He has redeemed Israel
from their slavery in Egypt.
And this is very important.
Note well here
that the Lord gives the law,
the Ten Commandments,
to the Israelites
after he has already
delivered them
out of Egypt.
God is not saying
to his people,
if you obey
all these commandments,
then I will bring you
out of the land of Egypt.
God has already
brought them out.
The law of God
is not the condition
that Israel must meet
or a cost that they must pay
in order to be delivered.
The law sets Israel apart
as God's people
because God has already
chosen them
and because he has already
delivered them.
It's because the Lord
has already rescued Israel
from their servitude
Pharaoh
in order to serve him,
in order that they might
serve him,
that he now gives them
this law.
It's the same for us
as Christians.
All of the imperatives
of Scripture,
what we must do,
are based on the indicatives
of Scripture,
what God has already
done in Christ.
Christianity is the only
religion in the world
that flips this around.
Every other religion
in the world
is merit-based,
is what you do
that earns God's favor,
the favor of the deity,
but in Christianity
you have the unmerited
favor of God,
that is the grace of God,
and then he sets us apart
with his law.
In Egypt,
the Lord delivered Israel
with the sacrifice
of the Passover lamb,
and here,
the Lord delivers
God's people,
he delivers us
with the blood
of Jesus Christ,
the Passover lamb.
And it's because
we have been saved
and not belong to him
that we now live
a holy life of obedience.
This is a pattern
that's consistent
throughout Scripture.
Look at what Ephesians 4,
verse 1 says,
walk in a manner
worthy of the calling
to which you have been called.
In other words,
you have already
been called
to belong to God.
You are his,
and therefore,
live like it.
Walk in a manner
worthy of it.
1 Corinthians 6, 20 says,
for you were bought
with a price,
so glorify God
in your body.
We don't glorify God
with our bodies.
in order to earn
God's favor
and gain our standing
with God.
No, we glorify him
because we have already
been bought
with a price
by the blood
of Jesus Christ.
When you feel guilty
and ashamed
due to sin
in your life,
do you feel like
you cannot approach
God in prayer
or worship?
Do you feel like
you cannot serve him
because of how sinful
you are?
When you sin,
do you beat yourself up,
wallow in guilt,
and try with all your might
to conjure up
feelings of sincere remorse
and squeeze out
some tears
in order to feel like
you've done enough penance?
When you have not read
your Bible for the day,
do you feel like God
is not going to bless
your day
or answer your prayers?
If you've answered yes
to any of those questions,
then you are living
as if the basis
for your right standing
with God
is not what Christ
has accomplished for you,
but what you do,
your performance.
The good news
of Jesus Christ
comes for our good works.
And it's only when
we rightly understand
the gospel
that we can rightly
understand the law.
The law is given
not to enslave us,
but to protect us
from being enslaved again.
The law is not a cage
to keep us in,
but a fence
to keep evil out.
The law is an expression
of God's grace
for those whom he has
already saved
by his grace.
God's grace
is not a curse.
And it's not a curse.
It's not a curse.
This now brings us
to the actual commandment.
The first of the ten words
in verse three,
you shall have
no other gods
before me.
Before getting
to the substance
of the command,
we need to note
that this command
is addressed
personally
and individually.
The second person pronoun,
you,
is singular
in the Hebrew.
Early in verse two,
when the Lord said,
I am the Lord,
your God,
who brought you
out of the land of Egypt,
the second person pronouns
there were also singular,
and that's unusual.
The phrase,
I am the Lord,
your God,
occurs frequently
in the Old Testament,
and usually it is addressed
collectively
to Israelites
as a nation.
So the you
and the your
is plural,
usually.
But this is one
of those rare instances
when the you
is singular.
So then verse two
is highly personal.
I am the Lord,
your God.
The Lord is not
speaking to you all.
He is not speaking
to the Israelites
collectively.
No,
he is addressing
his ten words,
eyeball to eyeball,
to every individual
Israelite.
He is pointing
his finger
and saying,
I am the Lord,
your God.
And you have to remember
the context
in which this command
is being given.
Matt preached
an excellent sermon
for us this past Sunday
from chapter 19.
Remember some of the details
from that.
We're here
on Mount Sinai,
and the mountain
is literally on fire
because the Lord
has descended on it
in fire.
Thick cloud
and smoke
is swirling
all around it.
There are thunders
and lightnings.
We had a pretty
spectacular thunderstorm
on Friday.
Was it Friday?
It was awe-inspiring.
Imagine being outside
in the middle of that
and imagine that happening
all right in front of you,
right around the mountain.
And there's a very loud
trumpet blast,
so loud in fact
that it says
it makes the people
physically tremble.
You've all seen
like souped up cars
pull up next to you
with the bass
all the way turned up
and the volume
turned all the way up
and it's so loud.
It's not shaking
just their car,
it's shaking your car
and you're in it.
So imagine that
except enough
to shake
a throng
of hundreds
of thousands
of people.
And not only
the people
are trembling,
it says
the whole mountain
trembled greatly.
So it's an earthquake,
a thunderstorm,
and a conflagration,
a forest fire.
Maybe it's,
maybe it looks a lot
like a volcanic eruption.
It's all wrapped up
in one.
It's an apocalyptic scene.
And not only that,
you have to take
three whole days
to prepare
and to purify yourself
for this encounter
with God.
And even after
purifying yourself
for three whole days,
if you are not
Moses or Aaron
or the priest,
you could not even
touch the edge
of the mountain.
So imagine,
in modern day,
this is anachronistic,
but imagine
hazard tapes,
the bright yellow
and black hazard tapes
all around the mountain
with do not enter signs
or rather,
if you enter,
you will die signs.
That's the context.
Everything about
the situation
screams
the Lord is
holy.
The Lord is
mighty.
The Lord is
awesome.
Not
awesome
in the trite
sense that we
use the word
awesome,
like everything
that is remotely
positive is
awesome.
No,
awesome
in the sense
that he makes you
fall prostrate
with your face
down to the ground
in utter
submission.
Awesome.
Terrifyingly,
breathtakingly
awesome.
And it's in that
environment
that Yahweh
finally speaks
and as you listen
with bated breath,
you cannot believe
your ears.
This immense
and awesome
God
singles you out
and says,
I am
the Lord
your God.
God.
Do you get
what an
unspeakable
privilege
this is?
Sure,
you're the God
of all creation.
Yeah.
Well,
of course,
you're the God
of the nation
of Israel.
But wait a minute.
You're telling me
that you
are my
God.
You,
the great
I am,
the ancient
of days,
the rock
of ages,
the Lord
almighty,
you
are my
God.
Yes,
that is
exactly
what he
is saying.
If you
are a
Christian,
God
chose
you
specifically
and
individually
from before
the foundation
of the world.
He
knew
you
specifically
and individually
when you
were still
in your
mother's
womb.
And this
morning,
he declares
over you,
you are
mine
and I
am
yours.
I
am
the
Lord
your
God.
And it's
precisely
because the
Lord is
your God
that the
first commandment
is absolutely
necessary.
You shall
have no
other gods
before me.
The command,
you shall
have no
other gods
is intentionally
general
in order
to be
comprehensive.
It
encompasses
all the
other
commands
in
scripture
about
idolatry.
Later
in
Exodus
23,
13,
it says,
make no
mention
of the
names
of other
gods.
Many
places
in
scripture
say,
you shall
not go
after
other
gods
or serve
other
gods
or turn
to other
gods.
Other
verses
say,
more
specifically,
you shall
not fear
other
gods.
You
shall
not bow
yourselves
to other
gods
or sacrifice
to other
gods.
But the
second command
encompasses
them all.
You
shall
have
no
other
gods.
You
can't
even
have
them.
In
light of
its
cultural
context,
this command
is all
the more
remarkable
because
every
surrounding
nation
in the
ancient
Near
East
was
polytheistic.
Yahweh's
demand
for
total
exclusive
allegiance
and
worship
is
unique,
literally
unique
in the
history
of
religion.
Some
scholars
argue
that
the
first
commandment
does
not
actually
teach
monotheism,
which
teaches
that there
is only
one
God.
Some
scholars
argue
that
the
first
commandment
reflects
henotheism,
which
is
believing
that
there
are
many
gods
but
believing
that
there
is
one
god
among
them
all
that
is
supreme.
But
that's
not
true.
Henotheistic
nations,
when they
fought against
other nations
and they
were victorious,
they would
pillage
their
belongings,
including
the other
nations'
idols,
and then
they would
take
those
idols
and
place
them
in
their
temple
of
their
god
as
a
symbol
to
represent
the
fact
that
their
god
is
superior.
Their
god
has
subjugated
these
gods.
That's
what
henotheistic
nations
do.
But
far from
placing
the foreign
idols
within
their
temple,
the
Israelites
were
commanded
in
Deuteronomy
7
verse 5
to break
down
their
altars
and dash
in pieces
their
pillars
and chop
down
their
ashram
and burn
their
carved
images
with
fire.
So in
1 Chronicles
14
verse 12
after defeating
the
Philistines
it says
that the
Israelites
left
their
gods
there
and
David
gave
command
and
they
were
burned.
This is
not
a
henotheistic
practice.
It's a
strict
monotheistic
practice
because there's
only one
God.
Still others
argue that
Israel
practiced
monolatry
rather than
monotheism.
Monolatry is
where you
acknowledge that
there are
other gods
exist but
you choose
to worship
only one
God.
This is
not quite
accurate
either
because
Jeremiah
2
11
states
clearly
that
these
other
nations
gods
are
no
gods
at
all.
They
are
not
lesser
deities
or other
people's
deities
they are
no
gods
at
all.
In
Isaiah
41
29
the
Lord
says
that
the
idols
are
all
a
delusion
their
works
are
nothing
their
metal
images
are
empty
wind.
Paul
also
confirms
this
in
1 Corinthians
8
4-6
Therefore
as to
the eating
of food
offered
to idols
we know
that an
idol
has no
real
existence
and that
there is
no
God
but
one
for
although
there
may
be
so-called
gods
in heaven
or on
earth
as indeed
there are
many
gods
and many
lords
yet for
us
there is
one
God
the
Father
from
whom
are
all
things
and
for
whom
we
exist
and
one
Lord
Jesus
Christ
through
whom
are
all
things
and
through
whom
we
exist
God's
people
do not
acknowledge
other
gods
while
worshipping
one
God
we
acknowledge
that
there
is
only
one
God
and
that's
what
the
first
commandment
demands
you
shall
have
no
other
gods
before
me
when
it
says
you
shall
have
no
other
gods
before
me
that
could
be
a
little
ambiguous
in
English
but
that's
not
speaking
of
priority
or
order
that
you
can't
have
any
other
gods
before
or
ahead
of
Yahweh
no
in
speaking
of
having
no
other
gods
period
the
phrase
before
me
is a
Hebrew
idiom
that
literally
means
before
my
face
it
means
it
means
in
God's
presence
everywhere
Psalm
139
where
shall
I
go
from
your
spirit
or
where
shall
I
flee
from
your
presence
if
I
send
to
heaven
you
are
there
if
I
make
my
bed
in
Sheol
you
are
there
God
is
everywhere
he
says
have
no
god
before
my
face
there's
no
exception
to
choose
Yahweh
is to
forsake
all
other
gods
that's
why
prophet
Elijah
challenges
the
Israelites
in
1 Kings
18
21
and
he
says
to
them
how
long
will
you
go
limping
between
two
different
opinions
if
the
Lord
is
God
follow
him
but
if
Baal
is
then
follow
him
this
is
an
either
or
not
a
both
and
proposition
that's
why
Joshua
says
in
Joshua
24
15
choose
this
day
whom
you
will
serve
whether
the
gods
your
father
served
in
the
region
beyond
the
river
or
the
gods
of
the
Amorites
in
whose
land
you
dwell
but
ask
for
me
and
my
house
we
will
serve
the
Lord
Yahweh
will
countenance
no
rival
or
peer
in
1st
Samuel
5
2
to
7
Philistines
actually
defeat
the
Israelites
in
battle
because
the
Lord
is
no
longer
fighting
on
their
behalf
because
of
their
sin
and
tragically
Philistines
capture
the
Ark
of
the
Covenant
which
represents
the
footstool
of
God
and
they
being
good
polytheists
and
henotheists
place
the
Ark
of
the
Covenant
inside
the
temple
of
Dagon
and
exactly
what you
would
expect
happens
the
next
day
they're
going
to
the
temple
of
Dagon
and
the
idol
of
Dagon
is
decapitated
falling
before
the Ark
of the
Covenant
before
the
feet
of
the
Lord
God
they
quickly
fix it
up
and dress
it up
and then
they go
to bed
and the
next day
they come
back
again
it is
decapitated
and this
time
his hands
are cut
off
too
and it's
lying
on the
ground
they realize
okay
we cannot
keep
the God
of the
Israelites
with us
he's too
hard
on us
and on
our
God
so they
send
the Ark
of the
Covenant
back to
the Israelites
with offerings
and sacrifices
that's what
a God
is like
we've been
witnessing
God's
radical
intolerance
of other
gods
so far
throughout
the book
of Exodus
when the
Lord was
delivering
Israel
out of
the land
of Egypt
remember
what he
said
in Exodus
12
on all
the gods
of Egypt
I will
execute
judgments
I am
the Lord
systematically
demonstrated
that the
gods
of Egypt
are no
gods
at all
through the
signs and
wonders
that he
brought
there
turned
the Nile
into
blood
exposed
the god
of the
Nile
Hopi
as nothing
the Lord
brought
a plague
of frogs
upon the
land of
Egypt
exposing
the Egyptian
goddess
of fertility
Hecate
or Hecate
who takes
the form
of frog
as nothing
the Lord
strikes
the dust
of the
earth
and turns
them
into
gnats
exposing
the
Egyptian
god
of the
earth
Geb
to be
nothing
the Lord
kills
the
livestock
of Egypt
with the
plague
exposing
the
Egyptian
god
Hathor
who is
depicted
as a
cow
to be
nothing
the Lord
sends
a destructive
thunderstorm
upon Egypt
exposing
both the
Egyptian
god
of the
sky
Horus
and the
god
of the
storm
set
as
nothing
the Lord
destroyed
the
remaining
crop
of their
crops
with locusts
exposing
the
Egyptian
god
of
fertility
and
agriculture
Osiris
as
nothing
the Lord
brought
utter
darkness
upon
Egypt
exposing
the
Egyptian
sun
god
Ra
as
nothing
and
finally
he
kills
the
firstborn
son
of
the
heir
the
heir
parent
of
Pharaoh
himself
because
Pharaoh
styled
himself
to be
god
thereby
exposing
him
to be
no god
at
all
and
all
of
this
serves
this
one
purpose
Exodus
9
14
that
he
might
show
that
there
is
no
there's
none
like
me
in
all
the
earth
the
Lord
is
not
content
to be
one
of
many
gods
or
even
to
be
the
top
god
in
your
pantheon
of
gods
he
insists
that
he
is
the
only
god
and
demands
worship
to the
exclusion
of all
other
gods
are there
gods
other than
Yahweh
in your
life
Jabulon
Buddha
Allah
Shia
an
ancestral
spirit
it's
not
only
these
false
gods
that
are
objects
of
idolatry
Habakkuk
chapter 1
verse 11
speaks of
guilty
men
might
is
their
god
some
people
worship
their
strength
their
might
their
authority
their
power
Job
says
to
God
in
Job
31
24
to
28
if
I
have
made
gold
my
trust
or
called
fine
gold
my
confidence
if
I
have
rejoiced
because
my
wealth
was
abundant
or
because
my
hand
had
found
much
this
also
would
be
an
iniquity
to
be
punished
by
the
judges
for
I
would
have
been
false
to
God
above
money
can
be
an
idol
that's
why
Jesus
says
in
Matthew
64
you
cannot
serve
both
God
and
money
Philippians
3
19
describes
the
enemies
of
the
cross
of
Christ
this
way
their
God
is
their
belly
and
they
glory
in
their
shame
with
minds
set
on
earthly
things
Colossians
3
5
teaches
us
that
covetousness
is
idolatry
it's
not
an
accident
that
the
first
commandment
is
you
shall
have
no
other
gods
before
me
and
the
last
commandment
is
you
shall
not
covet
there's
a
symmetry
in
the
10
commandments
commands
1
2
3
and
command
10
deal
with
the
heart
and
the
mind
what
you
worship
what
you
desire
what
you
love
and
then
command
4
and
9
deal
with
your
speech
what
we
say
you
shall
not
falsely
represent
God
by
taking
up
his
name
in
vain
and
you
shall
not
falsely
represent
your
neighbor
by
giving
false
testimony
and
then
commands
4
to
8
deal
with
your
actions
what
we
do
so
idolatry
and
coveting
are
intimately
related
so
then
from
these
biblical
examples
we can
discern
that
an
idol
is
one
what
you
count
on
and
put
your
trust
in
other
than
God
and
two
an
idol
is
what
you
desire
and
are
devoted
to
more
than
God
what
do
you
count
on
and
put
your
trust
in
other
than
God
your
attractiveness
your
athleticism
your
intelligence
your
wealth
your
spouse
do
you
count
on
the
next
president
to
solve
all
your
ills
and
guarantee
a
prosperous
future
do
you
rely
on
horoscopes
or
tarot
cards
for
security
you
must
cast
down
those
idols
because
God
will
allow
no
rival
do
you
covet
a
man
or
woman
that
is
not
your
lawfully
wedded
husband
or
wife
what
do
you
desire
and
covet
what
are
you
devoted
to
more
than
God
are
you
devoted
to
climbing
the
ladder
of
success
are
you
devoted
to
having
fun
are
you
devoted
to
creating
the
picture
perfect
life
or
a
family
on
Instagram
or
YouTube
are
you
devoted
to
getting
likes
and
views
are
you
devoted
to
pleasing
your
parents
more
than
God
are
you
devoted
to
your
children
more
than
you
are
to
God
Jesus
says
very
clearly
in
Matthew
10
37
whoever
loves
father
or
mother
more
than
me
is
not
worthy
of me
are
you
devoted
to
preserving
your
own
life
your
comfort
and
security
at
all
costs
evangelizing
unbelievers
at the
cost of
my
reputation
at
work
or
school
uprooting
my
family
and
moving
to
a
foreign
country
to
do
missions
work
where
there
are
bad
schools
and
dirty
water
forget
about
it
speaks
very
clearly
about
that
too
in
Matthew
10
38
to
39
whoever
does
not
take
his
cross
and
follow
me
is
not
worthy
of
me
whoever
finds
his
life
will
lose
it
and
whoever
loses
his
life
for
my
sake
will
find
it
we
must
cast
down
those
idols
these
false
gods
did
not
bring
you
out
of
your
slavery
to
sin
they
enslave
you
it's
the
Lord
who
brought
you
out
of
your
slavery
to
sin
and
you
shall
have
no
other
gods
before
him
this
is
the
most
important
commandment
out of
the
ten
because
everything
else
flows
from
it
if
you
examine
the
penalties
that are
prescribed
in
other
parts
of
the
Old
Testament
for
breaking
these
commandments
you
can
see
that
there
is
a
descending
order
of
severity
in
the
punishment
which
suggests
that
it's
organized
in
that
way
doesn't
mean
the
other
commandments
are
not
important
it
just
flows
that
way
the
first
five
commandments
are
all
connected
to
how
we
relate
to
and
worship
and
honor
God
the
second
five
commandments
are
all
connected
to
how
we
relate
and
treat
our
neighbors
this
is
why
in
Matthew
22
Jesus
sums
up
the
entire
law
of
God
with
the
greatest
commandment
you
shall
love
the
Lord
your
God
with
all
your
heart
and
with
all
your
soul
and
with
all
your
mind
this
is
the
great
and
first
commandment
and
a
second
is
like
it
you
shall
love
your
neighbor
as
yourself
on
these
two
commandments
depend
all
the
law
and
the
prophets
Jesus
is
getting
right
to
the
heart
of
the
first
commandment
it's
about
love
and
it's
about
loyalty
it's
about
having
an
undivided
heart
because
there
is
only
one
God
our
heart
of
devotion
to
God
should
be
undivided
for
us
as
new
covenant
believers
the
first
commandment
applies
not only
to
God
the
father
but
to
Jesus
as
well
to
the
triune
God
father
son
and
holy
spirit
why
because
Jesus
has
fulfilled
the
first
commandment
and
brought
it
to
its
intended
end
and
goal
in
Exodus
20
Lord
appeared
on a
mountain
in
a
cloud
revealed
his
glory
and
said
you
shall
have
no
other
gods
before
me
but
in
Matthew
17
the
Lord
again
appears
on a
mountain
in
a
thick
cloud
and
Jesus
is
transfigured
and
his
glory
is
revealed
and
God
the
father
speaks
again
but
this
time
he
says
this
is
my
beloved
son
with
whom
I
am
well
pleased
listen
to
him
it
says
of
Jesus
in
John
1
17
18
for
the
law
was
given
through
Moses
grace
and
Christ
no
one
has
ever
seen
God
the
only
God
who
is
at
the
father's
side
he
has
made
him
known
Jesus
is
the
one
who
fulfilled
the
law
of
Moses
Jesus
is
the
only
God
who
is
at
the
father's
side
he
is
the
one
the
son
of
God
who
reveals
the
father
truly
to
us
and
because
Jesus
brought
the
first
commandment
to
its
intended
end
and
goal
no
one
can
worship
the
father
while
denying
the
son
that
means
Muslims
do
not
worship
the
same
God
as
we
do
because
they
deny
that
Jesus
is
the
son
of
God
Allah
of
Islam
is
not
the
God
of
Christianity
in
fact
not
even
all
the
Jews
worship
the
same
God
as
we
do
because
many
of
them
also
deny
Jesus
the
son
of
God
1
John
2
23
says
clearly
no
one
who
denies
the
son
has
the
father
whoever
confesses
the
son
has
the
father
also
that's
why
the
New
Testament
apostles
treat
the
Jewish
rejection
of
Jesus
as
tantamount
to
them
rejecting
their
father
their
forefather's
faith
the
God
of
the
Old
Testament
is
the
God
and
father
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
so
let me
ask
you
do
you
love
Jesus
with
all
your
heart
with
all
your
soul
and
all
your
mind
because
that
is
the
first
and
greatest
commandment
if
you're
honest
you
will
admit
like
I
do
that
we
have
all
been
unfaithful
to
him
later
in
Exodus
34
the
Lord
warns
Israel
not
to
whore
after
other
gods
the
language
of
whoredom
is
picked
up
and
used
all
throughout
scripture
because
God
describes
his
covenant
relationship
with
his
people
as
a
marriage
in
Jeremiah
31
32
the
Lord
says
of
his
people
they
broke
my
covenant
though
I
was
their
husband
in
the
book
of
Hosea
the
Lord
commands
prophet
Hosea
to
take
a
wife
of
whoredom
who
will
cheat
on
him
again
and
again
and
again
with
other
men
so
that
his
life
might
be
a
living
parable
of
how
Israel
God's
people
have
even
though
they
are
betrothed
to
him
were
unfaithful
to
him
again
and
again
and
again
and
that
is
all
of
our
story
we
have
cheated
on
him
before
his
face
it's
like
a
shameless
woman
who
brings
in
an
adulterer
before
her
husband's
very
eyes
only
to
vex
his
mind
the
more
that's
what
we
have
done
to
God
to
Jesus
our
bridegroom
what
we
would
never
tolerate
in
our
own
human
marriages
we
have
done
recently
to
our
God
I
know
that
nowadays
there's
increasingly
talks of
open
marriages
and such
but
I
hope
all
of
you
have
enough
biblical
sense
and
enough
self
respect
to
never
consent
to
such
a
ridiculous
arrangement
the
intimacy
in
marriage
is
directly
proportional
to
its
exclusivity
that's
why
when
I
officiate
weddings
I
invite
the
bride
to
declare
her
consent
this
way
will
you
have
this
man
to
be
your
husband
to
live
together
in
the
covenant
of
marriage
will
you
love
him
comfort
him
honor
and
keep
him
in
sickness
and
in
health
and
forsaking
all
others
be
faithful
to
him
as
long
as
you
both
shall
live
that's
what
marriage
is
but we
have
whored
after
other
gods
and
that's
why
Jesus
came
to
reclaim
us
as
his
bride
that's
why
Jesus
died
on the
cross
it says
in
Ephesians
5
25
he gave
himself
up for
his
bride
Jesus
to
sanctify
her
having
cleansed
her by
the
washing
of
water
with
the
word
in
order
to
cleanse
us
of
our
infidelity
and
impurity
Jesus
died
on
the
cross
for
our
sins
and rose
victoriously
from the
dead
and it's
his
blood
that
cleanses
us
of our
guilt
and removes
our
shame
so for
those of
you who
have not
yet entrusted
your life
to Jesus
Jesus is
extending
his hand
out to
you
will you
let him
take
your
hand
will you
enter into
a covenant
relationship
with him
that's why
we call
our
membership
covenant
a covenant
because we
as the
body of
Christ
enter
into
we're
saying
we're
pledging
our
relationship
with
God
our
allegiance
to
him
will
you
enter
into
a
covenant
relationship
with
God
and
forsaking
all
others
be
faithful
to
him
for
the
rest
of
your
life
let's
pray
Lord
help
us
forgive
us
for
our
idolatry
forgive
us
for
our
infidelity
thank
you
Lord
for
being
Yahweh
I
am
who
I
am
because
when
we
were
faithless
you
were
faithful
we
love
you
Lord
in
Jesus
name
we
pray
amen