WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 Can you turn with me now to Exodus chapter 20? 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:06.600 And we're going to look at the first three... well, we're going to read the first three 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:11.640 verses and we're going to look at the first commandment this evening. 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:17.400 Exodus chapter 20, it's on page 61 if you do have the pew, the church Bible. 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:21.320 And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:24.359 land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:28.760 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:33.280 Now I know that Corey introduced the whole of the Ten Commandments series last week and 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.439 I'll probably go over some of the stuff he said and if I do then please forgive me, but 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:42.079 I hope it will still be significant. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.560 Now I'm going to call this series the Ten Words because I know that I think Corey mentioned 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.000 that last week because that's actually what we have in the original. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.439 It's not until later in the Bible that we have them referenced as the Ten Commandments, 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:57.840 they're called here the Ten Words. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.400 And I think that's quite good for us because I think it makes it a little bit more fresh 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:10.960 and challenges our often I think simplistic understanding of what's revealed here. 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:17.840 And we often just think of it in maybe legislative or legalistic terms, but primarily what we 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:24.520 have here is communication, God speaking and God telling us, God giving us some words, 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:27.200 which is right. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.280 And basically it's really, it's very much just about understanding God and us. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:39.719 So it's phenomenally relevant, the Ten Commandments, the Ten Words. 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:45.560 So in reality, when we're coming to this, we should all be sitting bolt upright, already 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:52.879 completely to listen and to hear what God is saying as He communicates with us in this 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:55.240 remarkable living word that He gives us. 00:01:55.239 --> 00:02:01.959 It's weird, isn't it, that we so often battle with making church and the Bible and most 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:10.359 importantly, God's really small, very ordinary, but often irrelevant. 00:02:10.359 --> 00:02:13.519 And dare I say it, dull. 00:02:13.519 --> 00:02:18.479 And that would reflect the condition of our hearts sometimes, isn't it? 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:20.240 That's what we feel about God. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:25.400 There's other passions that fill our hearts more clearly. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:32.080 But let's pray for the Spirit of God as we do to enlighten us and to open our hearts 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.400 and to challenge us through His Word. 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:43.360 Now, by way of introduction, it does seem that these Ten Words are contradictory in 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.360 many ways. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:50.480 And I know that Corey spoke a lot last week about the context because we've got these 00:02:50.480 --> 00:02:55.600 phenomenal words in chapter 19 and verse 4 where we have the description of what God 00:02:55.600 --> 00:02:56.800 has done for His people. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.200 Remember, He's taken them out of slavery and they're His own people. 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:01.200 He's redeemed them. 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:07.320 And He says in that glorious verse, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and 00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:14.200 how I bore you or carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:17.879 Has to be one of the most beautiful verses in the whole Bible. 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:20.879 One of the most intimate, certainly, verses in the whole Bible. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:25.039 It's not the Old Testament God that you expect, is it? 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:31.799 This incredibly passionate, intimate God who bore the people on eagles' wings and carried 00:03:31.799 --> 00:03:35.679 them to Himself in that great picture. 00:03:35.679 --> 00:03:37.599 Now, He speaks there. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:41.839 His first words, of course, were words in Genesis 1. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:46.759 Words of creation, of making from nothing. 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:53.159 But this infinite God who created using these words was always relational, was always creating 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:59.719 with a view to making a home for those created in this image. 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:04.920 And so this relational God here comes and speaks with these sweet words of rescue and 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:12.759 of redemptive power, words of love to a guilty people before the bar of divine justice. 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.759 Really close loving words. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:21.159 But then, and I know that we spoke about this last week, there's a separation, isn't there? 00:04:21.159 --> 00:04:22.159 It seems contradictory. 00:04:22.159 --> 00:04:27.279 So you've got this loving, passionate God who carries them. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.800 And then in verse 12 of chapter 19, it says, And You shall set limits for the people all 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:35.040 around the mountain. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:36.040 Take care. 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:37.720 Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death. 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:40.600 No hand shall be, shall be stoned or shot. 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:42.639 No beaster man shall live. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:50.080 And there's this ongoing picture of a barrier of limits, of smoke, of shrouded, the mountain 00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:55.360 that Moses was going to climb up to get the 10 words covered in smoke and there's a terror. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:59.600 Ah, that's more like the Old Testament God, we know. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:06.720 That's more like the Old Testament God that people caricature and misunderstand. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:13.960 And what we're reminded of, and God is reminding them, that there's still a separation. 00:05:13.960 --> 00:05:16.240 They still need a mediator. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.280 So the people of the Old Testament are both simultaneously carried and confounded. 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:30.359 They're confounded by this God that they're separate from yet who has redeemed them. 00:05:30.359 --> 00:05:34.559 And the 10 words that we have, the 10 commandments that we have here really expose that in many 00:05:34.559 --> 00:05:35.559 ways. 00:05:35.559 --> 00:05:39.719 They expose the beauty of who God is and the beauty of His way. 00:05:39.719 --> 00:05:46.279 Yet they also expose the unreachable standard that left their hearts and that leaves our 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.839 hearts exposed and falling short. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:55.799 And the Old Testament, particularly the people lived in the shadow lands. 00:05:55.799 --> 00:06:00.639 They were being held in the grip of grace because of what God left unpunished because 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.079 He had promised to redeem them. 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:05.439 Yet it wasn't fully unpacked or revealed. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.839 They hadn't met yet the Savior who would come. 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:14.879 They were exposed to a God whose character they often failed to understand and who they 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.439 constantly failed. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:24.719 But yet in Moses who was their human Savior as it were, who was their mediator, they even 00:06:24.719 --> 00:06:28.360 in Moses knew that He'd been given a promise of someone greater. 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:32.000 We had to look at that promise a little bit when we looked at the transfiguration a couple 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:37.399 of weeks ago where God promises Moses another prophet who would come greater than Him. 00:06:37.399 --> 00:06:38.879 And they said, listen to Him. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:42.639 And remember that's exactly the same words that God said on the Mount of Transfiguration 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.600 about Jesus, listen to Him. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.840 So in many ways the Old Testament and the Old Testament message is one of God preparing 00:06:49.840 --> 00:06:57.960 the way and also God exposing that humanity themselves had no answers and no hope without 00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:00.200 God's intervention. 00:07:00.200 --> 00:07:04.560 So there's a degree of contradiction and tension in the Old Testament before the coming of 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:09.520 Jesus that we sometimes, and I sometimes struggle with. 00:07:09.520 --> 00:07:14.560 But before we look at this command, can I just introduce another word to be spoken? 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.839 I'm getting this in first before we even look at the commandment. 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:23.600 There's another word and that is the person of Jesus Himself. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:29.759 See, God spoke directly in creation and then He spoke through these ten monumental words, 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:31.699 these ten commands that we have here. 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:36.879 But finally we're told that He speaks in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:42.680 Now if you have a Bible and if you can look up Hebrews, it's always quite good to sometimes 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.160 look up the different passages. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:50.759 And Hebrews chapter one, we're told these things long ago, at many times in many ways, 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:52.639 God spoke to the fathers, to the prophets. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:59.759 But in His last days He has spoken to us through His Son who He appointed the heir of all things, 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:01.579 through whom He also created the world. 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:06.160 He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature and He upholds 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:09.360 the universe by the word of His power. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.560 And so we've got this third word that comes from God and it is Jesus Christ. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:14.920 Now why do I want to say that at this point? 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:16.080 You may say it's not quite relevant. 00:08:16.080 --> 00:08:18.480 Well, can I just say a few things here? 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.960 First is the embodiment of the ten words and especially of this first command, this first 00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:25.960 word. 00:08:25.960 --> 00:08:33.000 So when you see Jesus Christ, when you look at Jesus Christ, you see a perfect human being 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.840 in relationship with His God. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:41.040 And in a sense, it's the only way that we can understand the Ten Commandments and put 00:08:41.040 --> 00:08:42.879 them in the right place. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:47.240 We can only understand them when we look at them through the lens of Jesus Christ. 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:52.960 And when we put our trust in Jesus Christ, then we can see them in the rightful place. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.120 Otherwise, for you the Ten Commandments, if you don't come at them through the lens of 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:02.400 Christ, will just be a set of rules. 00:09:02.400 --> 00:09:04.800 Negligible rules. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:07.039 And it will just be very legalistic. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:13.039 You'll have that legalistic mind about the Ten Commandments, the Ten Words of God, rather 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:22.120 than seeing them in their redemptive historical place and through the lens of Jesus Christ. 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.839 Jesus is the great lens that we look at the Ten Commandments through. 00:09:25.839 --> 00:09:29.399 And of course, Jesus Himself, what does He do to these Ten Commandments? 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:31.679 Well, He strips them down. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:37.519 And He strips them down simply to two teacher we read in Matthew, which is the greatest 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.759 commandment in the law. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:40.759 And He summarizes them. 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:43.759 See, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and minds. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:44.959 This is the first and greatest commandment. 00:09:44.959 --> 00:09:48.239 The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:09:48.239 --> 00:09:49.879 All the law and the prophets hang on these. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:54.000 So the first commandment is the first table of the law that speak about how we should 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.000 love God. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:56.919 And the second, how we should love one another. 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.000 And Jesus summarizes them because He is God. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.519 And He's saying, these commands reveal the heart of God. 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:12.480 And they reveal the character of true love and human existence and our deep culpability. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:20.039 There's one old man in this church who wasn't a Christian 20 years ago and who came to church 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:24.039 when we were doing a series 20 years ago on the Ten Commandments. 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.039 And he would come to church looking at the first commandment we were to do and he would 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:29.039 say, ah, that's fine. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.599 I think I've got that one, okay. 00:10:31.599 --> 00:10:35.199 And then he would come to church and he would come and say, oh man, I feel miserably. 00:10:35.199 --> 00:10:38.559 And he'd come the second week and say, I'm not guilty on this one. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:40.079 I'm pretty innocent on this one. 00:10:40.079 --> 00:10:41.639 And he went, no. 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.199 And as we went through all Ten, his heart was exposed. 00:10:45.199 --> 00:10:49.919 And he saw that he didn't love God and he didn't love his neighbor as God required. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:52.279 And he came to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:56.639 And in many ways, that's what these Ten Commandments do for us. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:02.799 They point us to our need for empowerment and transformation as we are brought to see 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:05.439 the nature and character of God. 00:11:05.439 --> 00:11:10.559 And Jesus lives out these Ten words because we can't. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:13.199 That's the beautiful message. 00:11:13.199 --> 00:11:16.919 And it's great to look at the gospel message, these Ten words. 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:24.120 He's the only human being, truly man, truly God, who in his own right as a human being 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:27.560 could speak to God the Father and not die instantly. 00:11:27.560 --> 00:11:33.240 He's the only person ever who could speak to God and not die instantly because he was 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:38.720 perfect and he had not broken any of God's laws and was not culpable before God. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:41.240 And he was there doing that in our place. 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:49.639 And when he went to the desert, he overcame the temptation of the devil to break the law 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:50.840 of love towards God. 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.160 And he particularly focused on this First Commandment. 00:11:54.160 --> 00:11:58.120 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and 00:11:58.120 --> 00:11:59.120 their splendor. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:00.120 All this I will give you. 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:07.519 If you bow down and worship me, Jesus set him away from me, Satan, for it is written, 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:09.519 tonight's commandment. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.080 Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:21.840 He resisted what we often fail to resist, which is taking the easy way out of suffering. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:26.600 Now we can't go into what that would have been like, what would have happened? 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:27.600 Jesus had given him then. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.240 Well, we wouldn't be sitting here tonight for sure. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:31.759 But he didn't. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.040 As God, he resisted. 00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:40.640 And he did so on our behalf and continued to put the living God his Father first. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:48.639 Well, as he fulfilled this First Commandment, he also was shrouded in darkness on another 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:49.639 hill. 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:51.480 We spoke of the darkness on Sinai. 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:58.519 It was another hill, it wasn't a Calvary, where he was shrouded in darkness as he lost 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:06.720 sight of the Father's love and felt only his wrath and took on himself the judgment of 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.320 our failure to fulfill these commandments on himself. 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:14.840 Now think about it just for a moment. 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:23.639 He was viewed by the Father as a lawbreaker, as an idolater, as an adulterer, as a breaker 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:27.600 of God's rest, as a coveter. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:31.399 We talk about two thieves on the cross, on Calvary. 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:38.279 It was three, because he was seen as a thief on the cross, as one who stole, as a lawbreaker 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:44.879 among two thieves, dishonoring to his parents, dishonoring to God, a blasphemer. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:53.840 Every iota of his being that he wasn't, he took upon himself, because it was our failure 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.279 that he took upon himself. 00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:02.919 And these ten words reveal both the extent of his suffering and also the glory of God's 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:07.240 love as it's revealed to us. 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:14.000 Ten words reveal what coming home through Jesus to God looks like. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.600 It's a great old song. 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.600 Jimmy Levine sung by you two and BB King. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.720 I was there when they crucified the Lord. 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:26.320 I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:32.160 I threw the dice when they pierced his side, but I've seen love conquer the great divide 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:37.120 until we see ourselves in that place and see the cost of what Christ has done. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:43.320 Corey was talking this morning about the free offer of the gospel and yet the cost of following 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:44.320 Jesus. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:49.519 It's only as we begin to unpack these commands that we begin to see that. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.240 So what's the first command particularly saying to us? 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.960 Probably that was, probably repeated a lot what Corey said, but it's all part of I think, 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.960 we could probably do this every time we look at the command, each one. 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:02.360 What is the first command saying to us today? 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:13.080 I probably haven't done this in as theological or an exposing way as we should have. 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.399 But the reality of what's saying is God is God. 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:16.600 That's what we're being told. 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:19.039 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:28.159 God is unparalleled, God is incompatible, and he brooks no rivals. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.159 He brooks no rivals. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:36.639 It's his right to say this to every single human being, to say, you shall have no other 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.199 gods before me. 00:15:38.199 --> 00:15:43.199 And he is that right to say to every single one of us this evening, as the one who is the 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:51.200 source of our lives, the one who is perfectly good, infinite, eternal, just and loving, 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:57.160 before whom we will all face to give account of our response to this command that He asks 00:15:57.160 --> 00:16:00.759 us and this word that He gives us. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:07.600 Every atom on this universe belongs to Him, and He holds ultimate authority over your life 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:12.320 and over my life this evening. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.200 I am the Lord your God. 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.600 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:22.120 And of course it's in the context of rescue, of bringing the people in an Old Testament 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:29.160 context to freedom out of the slavery of Egypt and towards the Promised Land, which we know 00:16:29.160 --> 00:16:32.320 is such a great image and picture of our own salvation. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.560 He says, I came for you. 00:16:34.560 --> 00:16:38.720 I bore you on eagle's wings to bring you to myself. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:45.639 And every single human being has been enslaved since Adam, and He came to set us free. 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:51.279 And if you're a Christian this evening, it's marvelous to see you here. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.680 Excellent that you're here. 00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:57.960 But the reality is that you have to do business with God, because God says that every single 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:03.240 one of us are spiritually imprisoned, spiritually in the dark like I was speaking to the children. 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:11.079 And we need God's eyes, we need God to open our eyes to see His grace and to see our culpability 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:18.359 and to see His remarkable rescue that He comes to us on eagle's wings. 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:22.799 And that requires a rethinking of our lives. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:27.440 If you're not a believer, all the things that you trust in, everything that you do to keep 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:34.720 God out of your heart, even though He loves you and knows you like no other, is what you 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:38.200 have to deal with, because that enslaves you. 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:43.039 It's the chasing of the wind, and you remain culpable before Him. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:49.360 And the invitation is to receive His rescue and to understand His love and to be transformed 00:17:49.360 --> 00:17:51.600 by it. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:57.879 And as Christians, this first word, this first command, reminds us of our debt. 00:17:57.879 --> 00:18:04.519 It reminds us this evening that we've been carried on eagle's wings to God Himself through 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:08.719 the work, finished work of Jesus Christ. 00:18:08.719 --> 00:18:14.519 We've been carried back into the presence of God, our Lord and Savior. 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:21.680 We have His Word, which becomes a light to guide us, and we have His Holy Spirit to enliven 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:22.680 our hearts. 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:30.559 And so maybe, maybe this evening we have a responsibility to repent, I certainly do, 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:37.799 for being so thankless or casual or for shrinking God to be so small that He fits into our back 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:38.799 pocket. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:49.200 A sparrow, not an eagle, just a sparrow, insignificant and unimportant. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:57.240 And to remind ourselves that this first commandment, this first word is the foundational word, the 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:00.240 foundational law of true freedom. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.039 It comes first because it's foundational to all the other commands. 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:08.079 Until we get that right, nothing else in our lives are going to be right. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:16.439 Until we recognize His lordship and His right to us and us not having any gods before Him, 00:19:16.439 --> 00:19:19.720 then we will never find and understand His true beauty. 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:26.799 It's enthroning Christ as Lord, recognizing God's salvation through Him, not an optional 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.839 thing. 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:38.039 And it's expressing the foundational, relational foundation of genuine love with its restrictions. 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:43.159 Of God's demand, God's restrictions over love. 00:19:43.159 --> 00:19:45.319 And that's where freedom is. 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.700 He's reminding us that we are in slavery without Him. 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:52.920 But we often think we're enslaved when we follow Him. 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:59.159 But true freedom is different from absolute freedom. 00:19:59.159 --> 00:20:03.119 You may have read an illustration of fish. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:10.479 Fish really are only free within the restriction of water. 00:20:10.479 --> 00:20:17.000 A fish on dry land, going wherever you want, leaving the river or leaving the sea behind 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:26.159 to be truly free will soon die because it can't take and use oxygen in that context. 00:20:26.159 --> 00:20:28.679 There's no freedom for a fish out of the water. 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:35.279 There's no freedom for a bird that isn't able to use the laws of aerodynamics or a plane 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.400 for that matter. 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:44.000 Freedom for us is never the absence of restrictions, but it's finding the right ones. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.640 Now, maybe you're a first year coming down, you've just left home, and you've finally 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:53.519 broken free from the restrictions of your family. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.680 And you think, great, I'm going to go wild. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:00.080 Well, if you're thinking like that, you probably aren't here tonight. 00:21:00.080 --> 00:21:02.759 You're probably down in the pub somewhere. 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:04.600 But it's a challenge, isn't it? 00:21:04.600 --> 00:21:10.039 It's a challenge for us is that when we leave home, we think of it so restrictive. 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:17.080 And maybe when you go home after your first summer, and you think, oh my, it's so restrictive 00:21:17.080 --> 00:21:21.039 being back home after the freedom of just being on your own. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:30.079 And yet, the reality is that that home environment, with its seeming restrictions, have molded 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:36.920 you into the person that you are and that has the parameters that makes you a significant 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:37.920 human being. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:46.559 Any community has these restrictions and these parameters around love which reveals our care 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.319 and our interest in other people. 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:56.639 This is His call to His beauty, to His exclusivity, and to His loyalty. 00:21:56.639 --> 00:21:59.079 He's saying, I want you to be first. 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:01.000 I want to be first in your heart. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:07.359 Literally, He says, you shall have no gods before My presence in front of Me. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:12.759 It doesn't mean He can be first and then you've got lots of little gods after that that you 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:13.759 just follow. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:18.159 You're just saying, you can't have any gods, anything that you put first before Me in My 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:19.640 presence. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:24.840 I'm not really going to speak about idolatry because that will be Corey's job next week 00:22:24.840 --> 00:22:30.040 because it goes on, obviously, to talk about that. 00:22:30.040 --> 00:22:36.360 But God, we're remembering, is to be the one who is in our heart as Christians and that 00:22:36.360 --> 00:22:44.600 we have no part of our life that we close the door on God to our time, our pleasure, 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:50.839 our relationships, our sexuality, our finance, our church involvement. 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:52.759 It's all His way. 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:55.599 We follow Him. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:01.839 And there's tension in that and there's cost in that which we saw this morning. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:09.759 But I think if you feel no tension and if you feel no battle about that, then I suspect 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:15.920 you're missing out on the beauty altogether, you're missing out on the love and the peace, 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.079 the shalom that comes from that. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.000 Because idolatry, I'm not really going to speak, I'm just going to speak a wee bit about idolatry. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:29.319 But idolatry is the temptation at one level to avoid suffering at all costs. 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:31.039 We just want an easy life. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:39.359 How many people choose not to follow Jesus because they just think it's an easier life? 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:45.879 Which is a misunderstanding, of course, but I think it's idolatrous. 00:23:45.879 --> 00:23:49.359 There's pain in following Jesus Christ. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:54.799 There's cost in following Jesus Christ in submitting to this commandment, by His strength 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:58.740 and in His grace and the forgiveness when we fail to do so. 00:23:58.740 --> 00:24:01.639 But there is a cost, but it's a healing cost. 00:24:01.639 --> 00:24:04.599 I'm going to use a pathetic example. 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:09.199 But it can't be that pathetic because I remember, I'm nearly sixty and this happened when I 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:18.200 was less than ten and I got a poisoned finger and there was a big yellow spot in my finger 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:28.080 and the finger was red and solid and it had to be lanced. 00:24:28.080 --> 00:24:34.120 It was the only way it could be healed was if this pus was lanced. 00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:40.359 There was a dear lady in our church at St. Columbus at that time called Peggy McLeod and 00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:47.199 she was a nurse and she came round very gently one day and took my hand and talked nicely 00:24:47.199 --> 00:24:48.199 through it. 00:24:48.199 --> 00:24:51.239 But it was agony. 00:24:51.239 --> 00:24:53.239 It was the sorest thing that ever happened to me. 00:24:53.239 --> 00:24:54.239 What a big wimp. 00:24:54.239 --> 00:24:55.719 It was only my finger. 00:24:55.719 --> 00:24:59.079 But honestly, it was the sorest thing ever because she had to pierce it and squeeze it 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:03.839 out of the red and it was all swollen and hardened. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:09.199 So the relief and the healing was instant and was great. 00:25:09.199 --> 00:25:14.119 And you know, there's lots of different examples we could use of that, that there is pain and 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:15.519 there is different kinds of pain. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:21.480 But what God is asking us to do is to recognize that the pain that we go through in following 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.519 Him is the pain of healing. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:30.679 It's the light that shines in the darkest places of your heart that is painful to have 00:25:30.679 --> 00:25:32.799 them exposed. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.200 But if you're not going to be honest enough to let His light shine into the darkness, 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.559 you'll never know His healing and His Lordship which He speaks about here, you shall have 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.240 no other gods before me. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.680 And so the question is as we conclude, who is it that we're listening to? 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.319 We can't serve two masters. 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:50.319 We can't do it. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.740 I'm only going to talk about one idol. 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:58.399 If you think, there's two ways that you might think this evening and that I might think. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:06.080 If there's a choice of doing things your way and God's way, and if you think, I'm going 00:26:06.080 --> 00:26:12.960 to do it this way, and if God says, don't do it that way, that's wrong. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:14.840 Don't live that way, that's wrong. 00:26:14.840 --> 00:26:17.360 Who do you listen to? 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:19.160 Whose way do you follow? 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:20.759 Is it your own heart? 00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:29.480 Is sometimes all its kind of bitterness and self and ego, or is it, who do we trust? 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:34.759 There might be lots of things, but ultimately the greatest idol you're challenged with and 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:40.039 I'm challenged with is self, is me. 00:26:40.039 --> 00:26:49.799 So instead of God becoming the me in the first command, you're the me, or I'm the me. 00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:53.599 Isn't that the big challenge? 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.599 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:03.319 The big challenge is that we are on the throne of the universe, that we are central to the 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:05.759 whole of life, that it's our will that gets done. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.559 And the greatest challenge, and we were singing it in that song we've learned, is to do His 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:10.720 will not alone. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:15.519 And the only way we can do that is we fall on our knees and come at the cross to recognize 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:18.119 we can't. 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:20.719 But He has provided the way for us. 00:27:20.719 --> 00:27:27.039 So as we just finished, what about this commandment in St. C's? 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:33.879 Now, my time here is coming to an end. 00:27:33.879 --> 00:27:42.719 And we've got the whole of the second tablet of the Law in the last five commands telling 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:49.759 us how we should love one another, but the first command is foundational to that. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:57.759 It must come from understanding that God says that we are to love Him first, and that we 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:02.160 can only do that through coming to Christ. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:09.200 But as we come and recognize that truth, and we challenge ourselves, I see so much beauty 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:24.840 here, so much that's praiseworthy, so much that gives God glory, a beautiful community. 00:28:24.840 --> 00:28:30.840 But I also see that God is stirring us, and He's working, the Holy Spirit is working, 00:28:30.840 --> 00:28:34.600 and people are coming of faith. 00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:40.119 And where there's beauty, and where there's love, and where people are coming of faith, 00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:45.639 there's always going to be pain, because His light is shining, isn't it? 00:28:45.639 --> 00:28:51.119 And when His light is shining, some of our ugliness and some of the temptations that 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:53.959 we give into will be exposed. 00:28:53.959 --> 00:28:59.799 So it may be, as the Spirit of God is working in St. Columbus in these days, that there 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:08.440 are relationships that need mending, marriages that need rekindled, divisions needing healed, 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:18.079 gossip that needs to be quenched, open sin behind closed doors, cliques needing diffused, 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:28.079 grumbling self-righteousness, pride, complacency, and a lack of prayer needing to be addressed. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:30.079 We're all looking around at each other. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:32.319 I won't be speaking about. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:36.839 I can only say it because I know my own heart. 00:29:36.839 --> 00:29:43.159 I know the temptations that I have, and each of you need to see the same, and see the same, 00:29:43.159 --> 00:29:52.039 and help one another, protect one another, be honest with one another, and grow together, 00:29:52.039 --> 00:29:58.440 and disciple together, and disciple those who come among us who are new, and tell them 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:04.000 about Jesus, pray for them, love them, do one-to-one Bible studies with them, and we 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.720 may see many more coming in. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:08.920 Because we often speak about renewal. 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.440 We often speak about refreshment and revival. 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:18.480 And I genuinely believe that that only will ever happen as we are being revived ourselves 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:24.279 first, and that He works in our hearts first. 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:28.680 So never forget, you are carried on eagles' wings. 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:37.599 You're carried on eagles' wings to God Himself, so that you can fulfill this great law of love 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:41.160 with the power of the Holy Spirit to put Him first. 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:49.680 And as we put Him first, we will be our radical community and radical individuals. 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:50.680 Let's pray. 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:57.040 Father God, we ask and pray that you would help us to understand and to know and to appreciate 00:30:57.040 --> 00:30:58.040 who you are. 00:30:58.039 --> 00:31:14.039 Amen.