Title First Commandment
Contents
You shall have no other gods before me.
Last week, in the preface to the Ten Commandments, we looked at God's purpose in giving the Ten Commandments and the Law. God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt. And he gave these Ten Commandments and the Law so that they might be blessed by fearing God and doing holy deeds.
The first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me."
We often hear the word 'obedience'.
The Bible says we must obey God. But where does this obedience come from? Parents complain that their children are not obedient. Teachers rebuke students for not obeying them.
The first thing to think about before complaining about this is what is the reason for your disobedience. Obedience comes from reverence and respect for elders, but since that respect is gone, what kind of obedience will come? If you force a command and force it, you will obey it.
So is our obedience to God. If there is no reverence and respect for God before obedience to God's Word, there will be no obedience, and even if there is obedience, it will not be true. Joyful obedience comes from the fear of God. When we come to know who God is and the grace He has bestowed upon us, true obedience will come from the heart. That is why the first commandment is to make people who fear God. Who is God?
Nehemiah praised the character of God like this:
(Nehemiah 1:5) And he said, "O LORD, God of heaven, / great / awe-inspiring God, / I beseech you, Lord, who keeps your covenant and has mercy on those who love you and keep your commandments. I pray for your servant the children of Israel day and night, and I confess that the children of Israel have sinned before you. Incline your ear, and open your eyes, and hear the prayer of your servant. I and my father's house have sinned...
God is great, high, and fearful. He is faithful and infinite in mercy and grace.
He is Jehovah. He is the God who was, and will be, forever.
He is the God of salvation, the God of promise.
God is the only God, and he is worthy of our praise because he is absolute.
He is the God who saved us from sin, death, and the devil just as he saved the people of Israel from Egypt. The God who chose us, the God who redeemed us, the God who regenerated us, the God who protects and guides us.
It is only when we fear God, exalt God's name, and worship God, that the attitude of absolute obedience toward God comes out.
(Psalm 90:11) Who knows the power of thy wrath, and who knows thy wrath, as ought to fear him? (Moses)
That is why the first commandment is to know the object of our worship. Who is the object of your worship, the object of glory, the object of faith, and the object of prayer? Do you worship only God, praise Him, glorify Him, pray only to Him, believe and look to Him only? Or do you worship something else?
Paul said to the people of Athens, "You worship an unknown god," but some believers worship God as an 'unknown god'.
Even after receiving God's grace in this way, the Israelites considered insignificant insects and beasts to be God, made a golden calf, and worshiped it. It is like a wife who is loved by her husband betraying her husband, and it is like a child betraying their parents. He is a jealous God.
And while Israel served God, they also served foreign gods. The wrath of God is that they betrayed the God who gives them blessings and grace.
The gods they worshiped were the foreign gods Molech, Baal, and Mammon.
That god is still there today.
First, the god Molech is a cruel god. He is the god of the Ammonites.
(1 Kings 11:7) He built a high place on the mountain in front of Jerusalem for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and did it for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon (2 Kings 23:10). The king also made Topheth the son of Hinnom in the valley. to defile the children, and not to allow their children to pass through the fire in order to present them to Moloch.
It is a cruel idolatry that burns young children to Moloxin.
How much do you fight and kill to fulfill your cruel desires today? It is a time when violence is rampant and wars are everywhere. All crimes are very cruel. How filthy is Israel who worships such a god? The God of love and mercy has forsaken...
Baal is a god of fertility, and he is a god of lewdness whose way of serving him is obscene. A god in Canaan. They lost God, thought that the god Baal was good at farming, and they did a lot of foolish things to worship that Baal. Those who serve the god Baal are those who are drenched in lust and lead a lustful, lewd life. Today is the time to worship the god of pleasure. Doesn't pleasure become an idol? It is a time for those who worship the god Bacchus, to become gods with wine, and to stagger drunkenly. It is a time of lewdness and corruption as people who worship the god Venus.
Mammon worship is even worse today. Mammon refers to the worship of money, preoccupied with a lust for wealth.
"That god is a ship," he said. Worshiping one's own business, thinking that I feed my family, and making the things that fill the stomach of the flesh as a god. There are many people whose work has become a religion. business...
It's time to make science a god. They mistakenly believe that science will save them, and they cry out for all-around science. It is like Israel worshiping the golden calf as a god.
Let's look at ourselves.
Even though I am serving God, I do not put other gods before God.
What about my worship? Even the worship that I give to God does not only glorify God, but does it not be offered for myself, my glory, or my physical life?
What is our weekly life like?
Aren't you immersed in the world and worshiping other gods that follow the world? It is a mixed religion, and God hates it when we serve God and also serve other gods. Do you not serve both wealth and God?
Aren't you the one who serves the god of science like the world that calls for science first?
Aren't you the one who loves pleasure and goes out following the world where pleasure has become a god?
Do you not live with knowledge as your god? There are people who exalt human reason above the Word of God.
Does anyone worship demons?
If you say you believe in Jesus, don't you watch feng shui, get married on the date, and see compatibility?
First of all, it forbade us to worship other gods than God. We must worship and serve only God. Worshiping God must also look at our center.
He told us not to have any other gods before God.
There is no object of our worship, faith, or praise other than God. God is the source of our blessings. He blesses the Lord and delights in those who lack nothing as God alone.
(Psalm 16:2) I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord, and I have no good except you." (Psalm 16:3) The saints of the earth are honorable, and all my joy belongs to them (Psalm 16:4) Those who offer gifts to gods will suffer more; I will not offer drink offerings of their blood, nor will I call upon their name with my lips (Psalm 16:5).
God wants to occupy the first place in your heart, in your life. No, they ask for everything.
We should live a life of worshiping Him, making Him the supreme in all of our lives by giving to God the pure and undivided heart of ourselves.
It is God who will be praised. Glory to God, praise to God, and our hope only to the living God.