Lord, I pray that you would write in our hearts your law, that we would be inclined to serve you, to love you with all of our being.
And Lord, as we hear your word, would you open our hearts to know your word and to remember your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated.
So, many people think that in order to be a Christian, you need to give up your autonomy and your sense of personal identity.
And it makes it quite uncomfortable when we think of laws that really dig deep inside of us, that shape all of our life.
And so, is that true? Is that what the Bible is saying about Christianity?
Is it really something that removes our autonomy, our sense of identity?
Well, if you have your Bibles with you, we'll turn to Exodus, chapter 20, and we'll look at verses 1 to 3.
So, Exodus, chapter 20, verses 1 to 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.
See, when we read this in our culture, and even some Christians might, you know, go into this line of thinking after walking with the Lord for a long time,
we might hear the words when we read this,
And God spoke all these words, saying,
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land to oppress you and to make you my slave.
See, when we think of the story here, doesn't it seem like, you know, God is saving a people,
he's bringing them out of Egypt so that they can be God's slaves?
See, weren't they just doing what the Pharaoh told them, and now they're going to go do what God told them?
Like, isn't that a bit strange?
Isn't that like a bit of a contradiction?
Well, it's hard to accept a religion and a worldview in our day and age that invades our whole life.
When we tend to think in terms of simply adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that to our lives,
maybe a little bit of church going, or maybe a little bit of yoga, or a little bit of prayer to angels,
or a little bit of New Age, it won't hurt if we just do a little bit at a time, right?
As long as we do everything in moderation, and we try to keep a good balance.
See, this is today's Canadian philosophy of pluralism.
We don't want to give ourselves up entirely to something.
And when we hear words like this in the First Commandment, when it says,
you shall have no other gods before me, that seems kind of un-Canadian.
That seems a bit too much, a bit extreme, that we should say no to all the other religions and say yes to this God.
Why should we do that to this God?
Why should we say yes to this God only?
So the question is, why does God command such strict allegiance to him?
Why can't he be like my co-worker, who, you know, he's so suave, and so, you know, he's so outgoing,
and just does a little bit of everything, and seems to be enjoying life a lot.
Why does God have to be so strict?
He shall only have one God.
Well, let's look again at this text.
Let's see what it says.
So the commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me.
And to understand that, just a bit of an aside, if you've grown in the church for a long time,
you grew up in the church and you heard the Ten Commandments said over and over again,
you might have seen the plaque on the side with the Ten Commandments.
Oftentimes, we think of the Ten Commandments out of their context.
We think of them as rules.
This is what you must do to be in relationship with God.
So let's look at the context.
If you can, turn with me to Exodus 19, and we'll read verses 4 to 9.
So Exodus 19, verses 4 to 9.
So God here is commanding.
Moses to speak to Israel these words.
And so we continue.
So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all the words that the Lord had commanded him.
All the people answered together and said,
All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.
And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
And the Lord said to Moses,
Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud,
that the people may hear when I speak with you,
and may also believe you forever.
So in reading this,
we get a bit of a glimpse that there's a relationship going on.
God saved the people from slavery,
400 years of slavery,
and now he wants to give them a new life.
So if we can have our first point.
Second point, actually.
Thanks.
God's intention through Israel's salvation
is to create a new human race
who will live in freedom
like in the Garden of Eden.
So this is what's happening here.
And let's look back at verse 4 to 9.
Here it says,
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians
and how I bore you on eagles' wings
and brought you to myself.
So God carried them
almost like an eagle would carry the little baby eagles
on their wings, on their back,
and carry them to safety.
And he says that he brought you to myself.
God brought Israel to himself.
And now therefore,
if you will indeed obey my voice
and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession
among all peoples.
So just pause here.
The word treasured possession
is not God saying,
Israel, you will be my little sweetheart.
You will be my little cupcake.
Treasured possession.
It's actually saying
something a little bit deeper than that.
In the ancient days,
the word treasured possession
is something that a god
would say to the king of a nation.
It would say to that king
in having a relationship
that the king would be personally chosen,
blessed, and protected by God.
So it's interesting that
this is the language that's communicated
between a god and a king.
And here we have
God,
the Lord,
Yahweh,
who's speaking to Israel.
So Israel is like a king,
essentially,
what it's trying to say.
And what do kings do
in the ancient days?
They rule.
They have dominion over the earth.
And so if that's starting
to ring a bell,
that's a good thing.
This is language
that is kind of communicating
that we're going back
to the Garden of Eden.
We're going to have
dominion over the earth.
And then kingdom of priests.
The kingdom of priests
refers to those
who serve in the presence
of God
and the holy nation.
God calls them
a holy nation.
And that's
for those who carry out
God's likeness
or God's image
in all the earth.
So we see that
God's relationship with them
is quite special.
God's intention
through Israel's salvation
is to create
a new human race
who will live in freedom
like in the Garden of Eden.
If I can have
the second point, Andrew.
So false gods
are selected
by broken people
because they claim
to bring power
and success.
God mercifully
gathers broken people
to restore them
to life.
So there's a big
difference here.
The way that
false gods operate
and the way that
the God of Israel,
the creator of all
the earth,
operates.
And so God
commands his people
to not have other gods
because if they do that,
they'll go back
into slavery.
And it's tempting
because they promise
success
and they promise power.
But the God of Israel,
God mercifully
gathers broken people
to restore them
to life.
So we see here
that God
gives Israel
a similar mission
as he gave Adam.
And I just want
to point out
one more thing here.
It says,
Now therefore,
if you will
indeed obey my voice
and keep my covenant,
you shall be
my treasured possession
among all peoples,
for all the earth
is mine.
For all the earth
is mine.
If you remember,
we just did a series
in Genesis,
one to the beginning
of chapter 12.
And in Genesis 1,
the great commission
that is in Genesis 1,
or we call it
the creation mandate,
is that human beings
are to be fruitful
and multiply
and fill the earth.
And here,
God is gathering a people.
He's giving them a land
so that they can be
image bearers
in his land.
But his plan
is beyond the land.
He says,
All the earth
is mine.
So God's plan
is to fill the earth.
Again,
just like in Genesis 1.
Okay,
so we have this
relationship happening
between Israel and God,
and now God wants them
to obey him.
And that may not seem
to sit very easily with us.
So maybe an analogy
will help.
A few months ago,
I got engaged.
And I promise
I don't read the whole Bible
in light of marriage,
but this is something
that I think is relevant,
is that
before we got engaged,
we had a conversation
something like,
I'm just paraphrasing here,
and this is not
word for word,
but, you know,
we share a mutual affection
for one another.
And, you know,
we love Jesus,
and we want to serve
Jesus together
for the rest of our lives.
And we both agree on this,
and this is likely
to look like
vocational ministry.
Are you okay with that?
Yes, I am.
Okay.
And then we talk about,
you know,
I asked Renee
if she would want
to marry me,
and she said yes.
Okay.
So we have this
illustration.
Let's look at
verses 4 to 6 again
from chapter 19.
You yourselves
have seen
what I did
to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you
on eagles' wings
and brought you
to myself.
Now therefore,
if you will indeed
obey my voice
and keep my covenant,
you shall be
my treasured possession
among all peoples,
for all the earth
is mine.
And you shall be to me
a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation.
These are the words
that you shall speak
to the people of Israel.
So we see here
that God is having
this relationship.
He's establishing
a clarity
about what the relationship
is going to look like
with Israel.
Okay.
So God is going
to be king,
and Israel is going
to be the holy nation,
the kingdom of priests.
And so they're
establishing clarity here
and expectations,
what this relationship
will look like.
Okay,
and then we continue.
What is Israel's response?
Let's look at verse 8.
It says,
all the people,
all of Israel,
answered together
and said in one voice,
all that the Lord
has spoken,
we will do.
And Moses reported
these words
of the people
to the Lord.
So we see God
makes a proposal
to Israel.
Israel says,
yes,
we will do it.
We will be
your people
and you will be
our God.
And so
this is the
kind of engagement
picture,
and then we move
to Exodus 20.
So let's turn there,
Exodus 20,
and we're on
the wedding day,
so to speak.
So let's read here.
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.
So just pause here
in verse 2.
We see that God
is mentioning
the two people
who are part
of this relationship.
It says,
I am the Lord,
your God,
and you,
referring to Israel.
So he's communicating
this is what's
going to happen.
This is what I did.
This is our relationship.
This is the nature
of our relationship.
And this is quite
similar to when
on my wedding day
with Renee,
I'm going to say,
I, Jonathan,
take you,
Renee,
to be my lawfully
wedded wife
and vice versa.
And so we're
establishing that covenant.
We're saying,
these are the parties
that are involved
in this relationship.
But now back
to the text here.
In verse 3,
we see,
you shall have
no other gods
before me.
And this is a stipulation.
This is God's expectation
in the relationship.
And on our wedding day,
we're going to say
something similar like,
for better,
for worse,
for richer,
for poorer,
in sickness
and in health.
And those are the promises,
the vows that we're making
to one another
to establish our relationship.
So,
this text is talking about
having no other gods
before me.
And this is a stipulation.
But what does God mean
exactly by
no other gods
before me?
Like,
does he mean
instead of me?
Or does he mean
ahead of me?
Or next to me?
Think of it this way.
you who are husbands
in the room,
if your wife
would come to you
at the end of the day
and would say,
honey,
there's this man
who,
you know,
that I met at work
or at the mall
or something
and he wants to be
my husband as well,
would he be okay
if he was
my husband
instead of you?
And the answer
would be no.
Could he be
my husband
ahead of you?
No.
Could he be
my husband
next to you?
No.
So the answer is no.
There is no other
husband in the picture.
I am your husband.
You are my wife.
We are together.
And this is our covenant.
This is what we've established.
Okay.
So,
okay,
so we're talking
about gods here.
And in our modern age,
like,
we understand
that there were
gods back then.
And there are
other religions today.
But, like,
how does this work
in our day and age?
Other gods
before me.
and in our
relationship
with God.
Well,
there are all sorts
of different gods
these days
that we don't
necessarily call gods.
But we refer
to them as gods
because they have
a certain power
and a certain promise.
Whether it's
the god
in our modern day
of success
that if we do
certain exercises
or we do
certain
vows
to certain
people,
we follow
certain rich people,
we will be rich
as well,
we will be successful
or the god
of sexuality
or the god
of power,
of influence,
or of convenience.
And we live
by them
and God
calls us
to a strict
devotion to him
for our good.
So,
you might be thinking
despite the fact
that God says,
or the Bible says,
that we are
being saved
from slavery
into freedom,
it still doesn't
really make sense
that freedom
involves following
commandments.
I'm not too sure
I follow.
Okay,
so let's just
look at this.
Maybe I can give
an analogy
that will help.
If I were to
babysit one of my
little nephews,
I were to bring
him to the park,
we would arrive
at the park
and we're there
to go play
in the park,
right?
So,
we get there
and I would say,
okay,
little nephew,
don't run
in the rose bush,
watch for the beehive,
don't get bit
by the dog,
et cetera,
right?
Because we're there
to play in the park,
we're there
to enjoy the park
and we won't enjoy
the park
if we have to go
to the hospital
because the bees
and the dogs
bit you
and all that,
right?
So,
for maximum performance
in the park,
we want to have fun,
we want to take advantage
of these 30 minutes
that we're going
to spend in the park
or maybe hour,
let's just make sure
we play in the park
and we don't go
outside of the park
where it's dangerous.
Okay,
good.
And we're good?
Okay,
so,
what this is saying
is that
when we sin,
we sort of lose touch
with the purpose
of life.
We sort of lose
touch with the purpose
of life
and we need
proper boundaries
because our inner explorer
will be drawn
to all sorts
of other things
around the park
or in the peripheries
of life
that just want
to destroy us.
And so,
here's the point
of God giving us
commandments.
God provides us
moral perimeters
to live by
but the question remains,
what is the purpose
of life?
Can we have the next
slide,
Andrew?
We like to think
we can create
our own purpose
in life
apart from God's will
but we will run
away from his commandments
towards our
re-enslavement.
We like to think
we can create
our own purpose
in life
apart from God's will
but we run
away from his commandments
towards re-enslavement.
A little while back
I watched a video
on email,
it's one of those
chain emails
that gets sent around
and I try to watch them
because some of them
are actually really funny.
Anyway,
this video,
there was a cheetah
who was stuck
in this life trap.
I think it was the paw
that was stuck
in the trap
and the cat
was just going everywhere
and there were
these two forest rangers
or safari park rangers
that were trying
to free the cheetah
and they had these poles
and they were just
kind of holding
around the neck,
holding on this leg
until they can get
the trap open
so that the cat
can be free.
Now,
I was thinking like,
oh my goodness,
this cat is angry.
This cat is going to like
shred these guys
with the claws
and these guys
are done with
if the cat is set free.
Like,
what are they doing?
And so anyway,
they get closer and closer
and as soon as
they get the trap open,
the cat is ready
to be released
except that they still
have the poles
around their necks
and I'm just,
I'm kind of losing it.
And anyway,
the cat is just furious
and they finally get
the poles
with the little straps
around off the neck,
off the paw
and we're ready
for action.
And I would think
that people would try
to poke the cat
and say like,
go away,
don't attack us.
But the reality is
that they didn't need
to do that.
The cheetah just ran
for dear life.
The cheetah went
and,
well,
the video didn't really
show what the cheetah did
but I assume
that the cheetah went
to go be a cheetah again.
You know,
go around the pond,
drink some water,
eat some food,
do a bit of hunting,
hang around with other cats
and that's kind of
what I assumed
out of the picture.
But here's why
I bring up this illustration.
Unlike the cheetah,
we don't run towards
doing what God
frees us to do.
See,
if it was just us,
we would just be set free
and then we'd probably
stick around,
you know,
smell the trap
and hang around
with the forest rangers.
The Bible uses words
like enslavement,
modern terms,
we talk about addiction.
For people who are
walking to be set free
from different addictions,
whether it's from alcohol
or drugs
or sex
or money,
it's not as simple
as just being told
that you're set free.
We always run back.
We have these
desires within us
that are shaped
by things of this world
and God wants
to set us free
from the things
that captivate us,
things that hold us
in bondage.
Okay,
so in the biblical narrative
as we've seen so far,
the problem is that
the Israelites'
freedom from Egypt
is not sufficient.
They're saved by God
but they still need
to know
how to live.
And so,
can we have
the next slide?
Is there a slide
before that?
Okay,
I might have missed it.
So,
I'll just say it.
God's command,
God's commandments
reflect his character
whereby only God
can fulfill the law.
The question is not
what will help me
but who will help me?
See,
in the nature
of God's command,
God gives Israel
his commandments
and Israel is not,
you know,
better than everyone else.
God saves them
because he's merciful,
not because they're good.
And that is a picture,
Israel is a picture
of the whole world
that whatever Israel does,
we would,
anyone who's outside
of Israel
would do the same.
Israel sins,
anyone else would sin
at God's commandments.
So,
God gives us commandments
that reflect him.
They kind of articulate
his character
for us
because his commandments
are holy
and they're so holy
that only God
can fulfill them.
So,
the question is not
what will help me
but who will help me?
See,
we are creatures
who are driven
by desire,
by love
and we find those things
in things that don't
fulfill us
and the Bible
will make the claim
that because we're
made in the image
of God,
only God
can fulfill us,
only God
can satisfy us,
only God
because God
is personal
and,
you know,
art is not,
sciences are not,
mathematics are not,
those things are great.
They can be
false gods
who will drive us
into slavery
and make us more empty
unless God
is there to save us.
So,
God's commandments
reflect his character
whereby only he
can fulfill the law.
The question is not
what will help me
but who will help me?
Now,
what do I mean by this?
When we look at the law,
we look beyond the law
to the law giver
and that is God.
God is the law giver
and we look to a God
of grace
who sets us free
and gives us parameters
to stay free
to continue in freedom
and so God's laws
are grace to us
yet we can't
follow through.
We can't do them perfectly.
We still fall short
and so for this reason
we need a Messiah.
We need a God man,
someone who is a human
yet has God's zeal
for holiness
and so God sends
his son Jesus
for us
to live
the life
that we should have lived
but we couldn't
because we are
too sinful.
Jesus comes,
he lives a perfect life
and he walks perfectly
in holiness
before God
fulfilling all of his commandments
and he also taught us
the first commandment
that we're looking at today
though the words here say
you shall have no other gods
before me.
Andrew,
can we have the next slide?
Jesus taught us
the most important commandment
is hear Israel
the Lord our God
the Lord is one
and you shall have
no other God
or 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.
See,
Jesus
having lived
this life
he
also
taught this commandment
but taught
the positive implication
of the commandment
to love God
not just avoid
other gods
but to
have God
that's what the commandment
is implied
to love God
and so
how can we love God?
Well,
we just look at him
we think of God
we think of his acts
we think of what he has done
for us
see God has done
everything possible
for us
to be in a right relationship
with him
when we could not
God does it
and God
provides
pardon through his son
on the cross
that when we believe in him
we are forgiven our sins
and he also gives us
power to live
a life
a new life
that reflects
his holiness
he pours out
his Holy Spirit
to those who trust
in Jesus
and so this is our hope
the hope is that
Jesus has done it all
that we look to Jesus
we fall in love
with Jesus
because he loved us first
we follow Jesus
because of the power
that he
imparts
to us
so now if you're
a Christian
here
and you might be
wondering why
we teach the
Ten Commandments
we just started
a series today
we're going to go
for the next ten weeks
looking at the Ten Commandments
and you might be wondering
like why
the Ten Commandments
like I'm a spiritual
Christian
I'm not a
law Christian
Andrew can we have
the next slide
can we say this together
whoever keeps
his commandments
abides in God
and God
in him
but
sorry
okay
what this is saying
is that
when we're in a relationship
with God
when we love God
we reflect him
and by this we know
that when we follow him
that his spirit
is the spirit
who is working
in and through us
and so to be
a spiritual Christian
is to be a Christian
who follows God
who follows his laws
not to be in right
relationship with him
but because we're in right
relationship with him
so I would invite you
to stand
at this point
and we're going to have
a closing prayer
so please stand
so some of you
might not have given
your life to Jesus yet
but
you want to
there's something
today that
really interests you
this could be
a conversion prayer
for you
and
either way
this is a prayer
for Christians
as we walk
with God
on a daily basis
so let's pray this together
or let's say this together
Lord
though your word
commands me
to love you
with all my being
you know
the propensity
of my heart
is to leave you
out of my life
in your mercy
write your law
upon my heart
turn me to Jesus
the one
whom the law
directs me
to worship
pour out
your Holy Spirit
upon
so that I may
be inclined
to keep it
all the days
of my life
through Jesus Christ
our Lord
Amen
just remaining standing
Father we're
thankful for
your grace
that you've shown
Lord you've given us
your son
so that we may
be made right
with you
so that we may
continue in this
commission
that you've created
human beings
to be a part of
to fill the earth
to be creative
and to do
your will
and to reflect
you
and to enjoy
you
Lord would you
teach us that
today
would you teach
us that
in Jesus name
Amen