First Commandment

What are your expectations? This is an important question to ask in every relationship. You need to make sure your expectations are known and you need to make sure that you're aware of the other partner's expectations. Let's talk about some relationships. The more intimate, the more personal, the more important this is. So we were having a new members class and the goal of this class is so that you know what to expect If you become a member of Jefferson Park Baptist Church, that's an important relationship. You need to know what we expect of you and how we need to know what to expect from you. A bank. When you put your money in the bank, you need to know what they expect to do with that money. You need to know the expectations of how often you can take it out, when you can take it out, and what they're going to do with it while it's there. Of course, with a spouse. Expectations need to be clear. You should have a conversation on the way to church who is expected to watch the children while the other person fellowships and is able to talk. That's an important conversation. It can relieve a lot of stress in the middle of the fellowship time after the service, if that expectation has already been made clear. Another important question as for someone maybe maybe courting now. Will the top sheet, will it be tucked in tight or let loose? You can really injure yourself if you don't know what to expect regarding that top sheet. We're looking at something a bit more serious than that this morning. We're looking at God's essential expectation for Israel. We're going to be looking at the Ten Commandments. We're going to start a ten part series for the Ten Commandments this morning. We've been looking at Exodus. We're now getting to that declaration of the law. This is the beginning of the law. This is what God expects of his people. He's laying out his expectations as the Almighty God, as Almighty King over the people. As we look at the Ten Commandments, they really function like a bill of rights. The first three are protecting God's right to be worshiped alone. He alone is God. He alone is worthy of worship. He alone should be worshiped. So the first one we can already see it is setting forth the expectation that we would worship him alone. The last six, those are a bill of rights for one another. It's how God expects us to live. For to summarize the message this morning, it's this. Love God because he first loved you. We are called to love God because he first loved us. And before we get to the the first commandment, the first word in Exodus 20, I wanted to give some background to to to get us back to where we were in Exodus. We took a break from Exodus for the Christmas season. And then I want to talk about the law a little bit in general. So first, where have we been? Well, we're in Exodus. You can go ahead and turn to Exodus 20. If you don't have a Bible, feel free to nudge the person that's in the direction of the end of the pew. There are Bibles there. God took Israel into Egypt. He devastated Egypt with ten plagues to demonstrate that He was Almighty God. He proved to Egypt that He was God and He exercised His wrath and judgment against them. He then delivered them without the final plague with the death of every firstborn in Egypt. Then as they're going in the wilderness, he takes them to the Red Sea. And as Egypt now comes again to attack, God parts the Red Sea. He takes Israel through dry land. He crushes Egypt with the waves. He gets glory. And as we remember, the main point of Exodus, the goal of Exodus, the goal of God in Exodus and in all of scripture, but particularly in Exodus, is to make God's name known. He's making God's, he's making his name known to Israel by redeeming them in mercy. And he's making his name known to Egypt and the nations by exercising his wrath and his judgment. After the Red Sea, God took them to the wilderness. He was trying to get the grumble out. He was trying to prepare them to be worshiping people that would trust him. And then in Exodus 19. He makes such great declarations, some powerful words where God describes what he's done for his people and who they will be. He says, I have brought you to myself a tender, caring declaration. I have brought you to me. I have exercised my judgment. I have stretched out my right arm of mercy and power. He then describes them as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. And he comes down with fire and thunder. The people are fearful, they're trembling. And then he speaks the Ten Commandments. Before we get to that first commandment, I want to do some general work here on the law. I want us to think about the law in the big picture. One of the most important questions we can ask is, how do we as a New Testament Christian, how do we relate to the law? Are these Ten Commandments binding on all people at all times? Well, to begin answering that question and the question of how we relate to the law and the Ten Commandments, I first wanted to give, there's been three typical uses, three uses of the law throughout the history of the Reformed Church at least. The first is the pedagogical use of the law. That is to teach us that we are sinners. The law is there to teach us we are sinners. It shows us the glory and the goodness and the holiness of God, and it shows us that we are short of that glory. We rebel against God. So the first use of the law is to teach us we're all sinners because we can all look and see that we've stolen, we've lied. We've broken the commandments and therefore we're sinners. The second use of the law is civil, and this was promoted to say that all governments should look at the law and see that it is the basis for any political law. It's in the conscience, it's in nature, it's not just revealed. All governments should be based upon the Ten Commandments in the sense that they protect people's rights. Here we already see that there's a universal implication of the law. The third use, this is where the controversy happens, it's called the didactic use of the law. Do we look for a pattern of godliness here? Do we look to the law to see how we now obey? Luther said no. Calvin said yes. So for some of us, this may be the first time we could say I'm a Calvinist. And others, you could say, here I stand with Luther. There is no limit to the fun you can have with church history. And I say this in the sense that we're going to disagree. Some people, I know some of you are going to disagree with some of the things I say about the law. Luther and Calvin, two of the great men that we stand on their shoulders, both of them, they disagreed about the law. And so this is an opportunity to, I'm hoping to present some parameters and feel free to disagree. We need to think about the law. It's a big, important topic. I'm barely going to scratch the surface. Here, I want to just give some parameters for us as we begin the law. So this is helpful for you to know how I'm going to interpret, apply the law. First, the Ten Commandments must be understood in their bigger context as part of the law. The law continues after the commandments. The law includes all the instruction that God gave. That means it's the Ten Commandments. It's the other regulations and instructions. It's the instructions for the temple, the priest, the lamb. The law is a big picture, and we must see the Ten Commandments as part of the law. Furthermore, we must see the law as a unit. It's a whole. You can't break it up into parts in the sense that you said there's a ceremonial part, there's a sacrificial part, and there's a moral part. And then you can't take whenever Paul says that the law is obsolete or the law is now undone, or when Christ says let's fulfill the law, you can't say he's saying he's fulfilling part and not all of it. That is imposing categories on the law. Nowhere in scripture does it state those three categories. I think those three categories are helpful to describe the law, but we can't read those three categories in the word law when Paul is using it. The point here is that when Christ says he fulfills the law, he fulfills the moral, the sacrificial, and the ceremonial. If you were to ask a rabbi, what are the three parts of the law, he would say the beginning, the middle, and the end. He wouldn't function with those three categories. We need to be careful not to set the Ten Commandments as a certain special part of the law. It does stand out, but it must be understood as the bigger picture. So the first thing, the Ten Commandments are part of the law. So if you think about the law in the New Testament, the Ten Commandments are part of the law. Second, the law reveals God and his nature. What God says reveals who he is. What God declares tells us something about him. They're not mere suggestions because they're commands that are based upon his eternal and absolute character and nature. It's not just what we do first. It's what God is like. So, for instance, the command, you shall have no idols. He shall make no images of me. Well, the reason that command is true is because God has already made an image. We are his image. We're not to make an image of God because he's a spirit and no image could ever do him justice. We are not to steal because God is a God who gives good gifts. He gives specific gifts to specific people. And when you steal, you are taking that gift that God intended for them. and you're denying God's wisdom and how he gives good gifts. We're not to lie because God is a God of truth. God then is part of the law. He gives the instructions for the temple, the priests and sacrifice. From this, we see that God is holy. He is to be approached with awe and wonder and reverence. We see here that God is just. Sin must be atoned for. We see that God is merciful. He is providing the way to atone for our sin. Here we see that the law is universal in the sense that it reveals something that's true about God and God never changes. So first, we must see the Ten Commandments as part of the law. Secondly, the law reveals God's nature, and that doesn't change. But third, the law was for the nation of Israel. The law was specifically and uniquely for the nation of Israel. This is why the first point is so important, that the law must be considered as a whole. All of the law is for the nation of Israel. It's the economy of Moses. The law was telling Israel how they were supposed to live and act and move and have their being at that time for that purpose. And it was a temporal purpose. The law of Moses is an economy, it's a dispensation. Now, we've used that word before. That word can be very misunderstood. A dispensation is just simply saying this is the household order now. The household order can change. God doesn't change, but how he relates to us changes. Take for instance, yesterday Lillian went hiking with me. Ivy did not. Ivy didn't go hiking because Ivy can't even crawl. She's not yet to the dispensation of hiking. The household rule is if you can't walk, you can't hike. But one day, Lord willing, she'll grow, she'll mature, she'll be able to walk, and we will go hiking together. As you grow, The law changed, the house rules changed. As God's redemptive plan unfolds, the way he relates to us, and more importantly, the way we relate to him, it changes. The New Testament makes it very clear that the law was temporary. The New Testament makes it very clear the law was temporary, and they even use allusions to the Old Testament that was already there. 2nd Corinthians 3, particularly verses 7 through 13, are very clear on this. It speaks of the glory of the old covenant fading and that it would come to an end because the glory of the new covenant surpasses it. Paul there talks about the glory that was seen in Moses face and Moses covering his face with a veil because he didn't want them to see that this glory was fading. It was going to come to an end. It was It was already planned to be temporary until the new covenant comes, whose glory is permanent. In Galatians 3. Let me read beginning at verse 23 here, the temporal declaration. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. We could also look to Hebrews 9, where it says the old covenant is made obsolete. The law being part of that covenant, the Ten Commandments being part of that law. Romans 10, 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Let me be more specific as when I'm getting it. The law was unique and special for the nation of Israel. It had a temporal purpose. The law was good. The law was gracious. They were saved by faith, by God's grace. It was a special stage of history. Here's my point. We saw this in Hebrews 12. You're not a citizen of Sinai. You're a citizen of Zion. You're a citizen of Zion. You worship on the holy mountain where Christ is. You don't worship Sinai. Sinai is ruled by the law. We are ruled by Christ. A major change takes place when Christ comes as Galatians, as Paul says in the book of Galatians. So the law was for the nation of Israel, uniquely and specifically for them. But remember, we can learn something about God. Now, here's our fourth point. The law is ours in Christ. The law is ours in Christ. First, the law of the whole. Secondly, the law teaches us things about God because it's his eternal truth based upon his eternal character. Third, it was meant to have a temporal focus for Israel, a temporal purpose for Israel. But now we see that the law is also ours in Christ. Let me remind you of our call to worship that Ben gave us. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The law, the Ten Commandments specifically of the law, They're ours. They're ours only in Christ. Christ is the author of the law. He is the word that God spoke that gave the law, and he is the intent of the law. One of the most important passages you can study when it comes to our relationship to the law is Matthew 5, 17. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, unless heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until all of it is accomplished. And the iota, the dot, that's like crossing the T, dotting the I. So here, Christ says, I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill. It will all be accomplished. One of the key questions, what does it mean to fulfill the law? One interpretation is just that Jesus, He finalizes it. He brings it to an absolute end. It's abolished. It's done. No more law. I think this is too strong of discontinuity. It is not completely abrogated. It just changes in its function. The other interpretation that I want to guard against is that Jesus merely deepens the law. His teaching just takes it to that next level. It certainly does take it to another level, but this doesn't really help gather the discontinuity. Now, when Jesus says he fulfills the law, he says that he is the goal and the end of the law. What the law intended, Christ accomplished. What the law anticipated, He fulfilled. There is an anticipation, realization, relationship between the law and Christ. The law gave us the temple and the priest and the sacrifice. It was already saying how God was going to save sinners. Christ is our great high priest. He is the Lamb who died. He is the temple where we worship. The law gave clear moral conduct instructions as to how we are to live, and we all fall short. Christ is the realization of what the law was looking at because he is the obedient one. He is the one who teaches us the true meaning of the law. He is the one who truly fulfills the law. Now, earlier I said I don't find helpful the categories of ceremonial, sacrificial, and moral. I do find these three categories helpful. Jesus Christ is prophet, priest and king. We look at those three offices that are clear in scripture, we see how he fulfilled and realized what the law was anticipating. He is the prophet. He is the one who has helped us understand the true intent of the law. He is the priest. He is one who has accomplished the ceremony of what we call the ceremonial sacrificial aspects of the law. He is the king. He is the one who exercises judgment over us righteously in the law. If we look to Jesus and we see how he lived his life and what he taught, he upholds the law perfectly. Oftentimes, we see him speaking to the Pharisees negatively. What Jesus is negative about is not the law as spoken to Moses. What he's negative about is the more is the oral traditions that they've added to the law. So the law is ours in Christ because he fulfilled it. It's now our law. It's more our law than the nation of Israel's law, because the one who came to fulfill the law, the one who is the realization of the law, he's our Lord and Savior. He's our king. He's our prophet. He's our priest. It's now ours. Israel doesn't understand the intent of the law because they do not realize that Christ is fulfillment of it. We know the meaning of the law. because we see Christ as the finalization of the law. See, Jesus brought a great change. We talked about that dispensation. We talked about the change of order. Jesus, when he came, he fulfilled the law. He brought about a new way to live. Let me just list some of the few changes that take place. Where we worship has changed. We talked about this before Christmas in Exodus 19. We no longer worship at the base of the mountain with fear. We worship with joy and the Holy of Holies where Christ is. How we worship has changed. It's no longer with fear. It's with rejoicing. It's no longer taking a lamb. It's worshiping the lamb. When we worship has changed. It's not Saturday. Today's Sunday, and we'll worship Monday, and we'll worship Tuesday, and we'll worship Wednesday, and we'll worship Thursday, and we'll worship Friday, and we'll worship Saturday. Who we are has changed. We're not one race. I look out and I see numerous tribes and tongues and nationalities, and I rejoice because the kingdom is not about one particular race and one particular nation. It's about all who believe from all nations coming together. These are significant changes that Christ brought about. We do not say, I follow the law of Moses. We do not follow the law of Moses. Because the glory that was Moses' law surpasses it. We follow a law that has glory that surpasses Moses' law. We follow the law of Christ. Now, what does this mean that we no longer have conduct expectations? That means we can we can lie and steal and cheat. Well, no, Christ taught us the true intent of those commands. Christ continued to teach that stealing and lying and adultery were sins. He actually heightens the law there. He shows it's not just the exterior action that's a sin. It's the interior motive. He takes the law and the commandments to a deeper level of our sin. So we look at the law of the Old Covenant. We must understand it's proper place. It reveals to us that we are sinners. It reveals to us that we need a Savior. It reveals to us that Christ is that Savior we need. And then it tells us how to obey. In summary, we must read the whole law together, the Ten Commandments as part of that law. Secondly, the law reveals God and his goodness. Third, the law was temporary for Israel. And fourthly, the law is ours in Christ. Now, that was a very brief introduction to the law. That was like the dummies guide to the cliff notes. I being the dummy. We can disagree about many of these things. I want to make sure you hear the law is good. The law is for us, the law is ours in Christ. Let me now begin Exodus 20. We're going to be looking at three simple verses. 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. The first thing that really jumps out is the very first line, the very first verse, God speaks. We take that for granted, but that is world changing. That is life and mind transforming. God speaks. The verse simply says, and God spoke all these words saying, Moses has given us a little allusion to Genesis 1, hasn't he? As he spoke all of creation into existence, especially for a special purpose, now God is speaking his law, especially these Ten Commandments for God's people. It says God spoke these words. Now, the Ten Commandments do stand out in the laws in general. The Ten Commandments are special to the law. It is special for a couple of reasons. One, after all the fire and the thunder and the smoke, This is what is said. This is the first part of the law. This is the very first thing we hear of the law. And it's repeated. This is also the basis of most of the regulations. More so, and this is easy to miss, this is the first time God has spoken directly to his people. Every other time it's been through a prophet. Every time it's thus says the Lord here, God speaks to them. And that's why afterwards they say, Moses, you speak to us. We don't want to hear from God anymore. That was too frightening. Let's not miss this, friends. God speaks so we can know him. He speaks so we can know his name, we can know his nature, we can know what to expect of him. He speaks so we can know him and love him and know his love for us. This is very important if you're an agnostic. You're asking yourself, can I know God? This is the most important thing for you to hear today. God speaks. Hear the words of God. He has made himself known. As I was thinking through this passage, I was very thankful that Ben was giving his testimony, even though he gave a different side of the testimony. I remember the first time he gave a testimony, he said, I had all kinds of questions. And it hit me and I realized I don't need those intellectual questions answered. I need God's mercy. It's not your intellectual doubts that's keeping you from God. It's your love for sin that keeps you from God. If you're wondering where God is and what he's doing, he's speaking and what keeps you from God isn't your intellectual questions. Yes, there are lots of questions. Scripture presents things that are difficult for Christians to understand. It forces us to think about eternal things when all we know is time. It forces us to think of infinite, the infinite God, when all we know is the finite. There are intellectual issues or intellectual things that stretch us. What really keeps us, what really keeps you from God is not your intellectual questions. It's your love for sin. Friend, we're all sinners. The issue is if you will hear God. Hear him say, I've created you, you rebelled, you rebelled against me. I have sent my son to die in your place so that my wrath is no longer against you. He is risen again. And if you believe in him, your sins are forgiven. Krishna, I want to warn us to not take lightly that God speaks, to not read over this too quickly. God speaks. Are you thinking, I hope somebody else is listening or are you asking God, help me to listen, help me to hear what you say. He can be known. He wants us to know us. He wants us to know him more. I got a friend and pastor that share this. I got a friend who's a pastor in Texas. And he shared this with me. He was really trying to teach some of the men to grow more in their knowledge of Bible and theology. And some of the men just kept saying, yep, I'm not able to do that. So he started asking them, who led the state in rushing in 1996? He knew the top five rushers from the high school of the state of Texas. That's how Texas kind of functions. I mean, he could memorize and know all these facts about every every high school football team and and the most important players. And he was saying he didn't he wasn't intellectual enough. He wasn't able to know the truth of the Bible. No, what he's done is prioritize. He knows we know the things we love. We must learn to love God and hear him and know more about him. God speaks. That means we need to listen. We need to revere what he says, we need to love what he says. We need to obey it. The second thing we see is verse two, God saves sinners, God saves sinners, God speaks. And one of the greatest declarations he says is that we are forgiven. This is a prologue, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Out of the house of slavery, this is usually considered the prologue or the preface of the Ten Commandments. It's absolutely essential. Notice it didn't say God spoke Ten Commandments, said God spoke these words. This is the first word God said, because it's the most important word. It's not what you do. It's what God has already done for you. He has delivered you. Therefore, you shall have no other gods before me. It without this verse, the rest of the commandments are nonsensical, especially do not take my name in vain. You have to know that it's Yahweh who delivered them and that's the name that is sacred. He is revealing his name throughout the redemption of Israel. We must see that this is so important, the redemption of Israel from Egypt. He saved them to be a holy nation. This is important. Salvation precedes obedience. We do not try to be obedient enough to make God like us, to bring peace with God. Obeying the Ten Commandments isn't what brings peace with God. Doing what God says is not what brings peace with God. No, it's Christ and his obedience and his death and his resurrection that brings peace with God. We cannot be good enough. to remove the sin that we've already committed. It's impossible to bring a way and measure as if we can somehow be good enough to have God like us. No, we are saved and then we obey. That must be how we always think. We are saved by the grace so that we then seek obedience. We seek obedience because he is an awesome God who has saved us. The theme here is worship. You know why you first worship God? Because of what he's done for you. That's what first woos you. That's what first draws you to God. What he's done for you. When you first see that you're a sinner and you first see that the son had to come and die for you, you love God because of what he did for you. And what we have to be careful of, church, is to ever move beyond that and forget this. We always must be reminded and remember, we love God because of what he has done for us. Some folks get bored with the cross. That's scary. Some folks get bored with what God has done for them, and that is a scary situation to be. We must constantly pursue to understand more deeply and more intimately what God has done for us so that we worship him for what he's done for us. We need to read his word and see what he's done for us. We need to pray to understand what he's done for us. We need friends to come alongside and help us remember what he's done for us. The more we understand the depth of our sin, the more we appreciate his sacrifice to save us as a sinner. When you first become a Christian, you really don't understand your sinfulness in its full depth. As you grow as a Christian, All you do is see how deep and how sinful that your heart is. So we initially love God because he first loved us, we initially worship God because of what he's done for us, but you do need to grow to where you begin to worship God because of who he is in himself. You worship God first because of his love for you, then you worship God because he's altogether lovely. We need to try to to work towards not just worshiping God for what he's done for us, but what but who he is in himself. Finally. The first commandment, as we call it. Have no gods before me, have no God before me, this is a negative statement, it's excluding, it's saying no other gods before me. It's simple, this is just simply saying we're monotheists. There's one God, we are to worship one God. It's an exclusive claim to worship. Another way to look at this is if we were to turn this into a positive worship, you are to have me before you. God is inviting us to come before him. God is inviting us to come before him and worship him. We get to approach God, not like Israel in Exodus 19 from afar. We get to come before God and know him face to face as we've sung about this morning. If you think about the application of what it means to come before God first, you must know God. You must know about him. You must seek to know him more. The most important thing about you is what you think of God. We need to make sure we're thinking rightly about God. We need to make sure we're thinking much of God. God's word will continue to stretch our minds as to what we think of him. It will continue to correct us and corral us and instruct us to think of him correctly, to think of him better. We must seek to know God. If you love him, you will seek to know him. The second application, this is really already getting into next week's. We must resist the competitors. We must resist the competition. There are many things that are seeking to be before us. Our hearts are idle factories longing for something other than God, even though God is the only thing that could possibly satisfy us. Our hearts are prone to worship everything but God. The heart is the battleground. What will be before you? Is it the one true God worthy of worship or will it be something else? We are alert and enticed by our eyes, our appetites, our pride. What is before us more? Is it our own self-promotion and success or is it God? Is it our bitterness or is there a thankfulness? Next week, we'll look more at idols, but I really want to go ahead and get us prepared to think about the things we worship more than God. Idolatry is wrapped in this or rather worship is wrapped up in this. We reflect what we revere. We're made in God's image, we were made to reflect him because we were made to revere him. But as we think about the different things we worship, we can identify idols because we reflect the things we revere. If you're full of lustful thoughts, if you're constantly not just seeing and battling lustful thoughts and ideas, but you're actually looking for lustful thoughts, you're looking for perverse images, your idol is sex. Your idol is sex. If you're constantly pursuing lust in your mind, you're reflecting in your mind what you revere. If all you do is think about money, either how little you have or how much you have, your idol is money. If you're constantly thinking about it, how to get more, how to deal with what I have, how little I have, how much I have, your idol is money. You're always wondering what others think. Your idol is your social status. If you're constantly wondering what others think of me, how can I get a better standing? How can I be more liked? Your idol can be social status. Finally, if all you think about is work, that next promotion, polishing the CV or the resume, your idol can be success. So we, what we think about Well, we are constantly thinking about it, constantly working towards that shows us what we worship because we reflect, we revere. Are you thinking much of God? Are you thinking rightly of Him? What we are called to do is come before God and worship Him. That is an honor and a privilege that we have in Christ. Let's go to the Lord and worship. Father, we thank you that you allow us to know you. We thank you for speaking. Thank you, Lord, for speaking a word not only that tells us how to live, but most of all, Lord, that tells us that you've given us new life in Christ. Teach us, Almighty God, to revere the gospel, the gospel proclamation, the gospel that declares we are forgiven and we're saints. Help us, Lord, to live lives that now reflect You in worship. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.