Exodus 20

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What Are You Worshiping?

In Exodus 20:3-6, God gives the first commandment, and I think possibly the most important commandment since, if we master this, we will have no problem obeying the others.

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You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make to you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

When you think of idols, you probably think of Bible days where people would build statues or poles and bow down to them, praying or worshiping their “god” made of wood or stone. Today, people don’t seem to do that as much but this doesn’t mean that we don’t have idols just the same.

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Here in America, we are inundated with so many things that can replace time we could spend with the Lord. Whether it’s TV, a relationship, sports, activities, etc., it is easy to get to the end of the day and realize God received a small portion of your time while these other things occupied a good bit of it.

God has blessed us with many things but everything serves a purpose. If any person or possession means more to you than your relationship with God, that thing needs to go. If you spend hours watching TV and only a few minutes with the Lord, your priorities are horribly misplaced.

I am currently evaluating my life in these areas as well. I hate the phrase “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good” because we must be heavenly minded to be any good on this earth. Everything we do should be centered around Christ and what pleases Him. If something does not please Him, it needs to go.

How do you spend your days? Are you daily seeking His face, drawing near to Him, worshiping Him as you go about your daily tasks? Or is he a tack-on to your already full day? I would encourage you to truly ponder this and ask God to show you if there are things in your life that are hindering the close fellowship that He desires to have with you. We often adjust to life and don’t realize that God has so much more for us. This is not a matter to be complacent about. Matthew 6:33 tells us, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” That needs to be our priority every single day of our lives.

Amid the frantic pace of life, don’t neglect quality time with your Savior, the only One you should be worshiping.

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The Context of the Law

For the first time in my ministry, I have been studying in some depth the Ten Commandments. This has been a most profitable study in my own heart and life. I have been encouraged to share my notes, and while it is not the same as the message, I pray that someone might gain some profit from what is written. Lord willing, I will seek to share my notes on each message over the coming weeks. Please note these are the sermon notes I worked from, and do not contain the complete text of what I shared in the ministry of the Word.

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“The Context of the Law”

Text: Exodus 20:1-17, “And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13Thou shalt not kill. 14Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15Thou shalt not steal. 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”

Intro: Our introduction to the Decalogue began by considering seven main points. We looked at their 1) Appearance summed up the law as the two great commands given by Christ, namely, a) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and b) Love your neighbor as yourself. With 2) Access we can understand that all are guilty because the law is written on the heart of mankind. 3) Authority tells us that God is the Giver and Fulfiller of the law. 4) Ability of the law is devastating in that it can only bring condemnation and separation from the holy, righteous God of heaven. 5) Assurance comes from the precious passage found in Psalm 19 and describes the perfect law of God. 6) Adversary of the law pointed directly to Satan. And 7) Acceptance of the law for a believer helps us love what provides protection. The main aspect we learned is that in order to live a life pleasing to the Lord we must learn to adore what God adores. He has given the law and it is in this law that we are to meditate day and night.

As with the purpose of every one of the 1189 chapters in God’s Word, the 20th chapter of Exodus is for the purpose of focusing on God. We do not need a chapter to show us how bad we are. Our depravity is always evident and even after salvation, the flesh can choose at times to revolt and bring dishonor to a holy God. This can and will result in discipline if the correction from God’s Word and the Holy Spirit do not bring changes to our heart and life.

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A Common Thread

For the first time in my ministry, I have been studying in some depth the Ten Commandments. This has been a most profitable study in my own heart and life. I have been encouraged to share my notes, and while it is not the same as the message, I pray that someone might gain some profit from what is written. Lord willing, I will seek to share my notes on each message over the coming weeks.

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“Intro to the Decalogue – A Common Thread”

Text: Exodus 20:1-17, “And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13Thou shalt not kill. 14Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15Thou shalt not steal. 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Intro: From the records of ancient civilizations three millennia past to the laws of modern civilization, there is a common thread that resounds with each person. It will not leave them alone and the points it makes haunts every person who has ever lived or who will ever live. From a human perspective, each culture has resorted to establishing a set of punishments for those who seek to break the common thread that keeps humanity in line. From a divine perspective, the common thread only serves to prove that God is indeed true and every man a liar, and also points to an unfathomable doom reserved for each who disobey Deity.

If you were to find and visit a tribe that exists in a stone-age type of environment, you would find that little has changed with respect to this particular facet of human history and literature. The historical veracity of the common thread is unchallenged even though the literature originally presented is no longer in known existence.

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