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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5. Last week we introduced the Ten 
Commandments by looking at the preface. In verse 6, I am the 
Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out 
of the house of bondage. God indeed had shown himself 
faithful to his people according to chapter 5 verse 6, verses 
7 and following he calls his people to faithfulness toward 
him. I do want to read the section 
beginning in verse 1 and concluding at verse 22 and then we'll look 
at the first commandment this evening. And Moses called all 
Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments 
which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them 
and be careful to observe them. The Lord our God made a covenant 
with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant 
with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all 
of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face 
to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood 
between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word 
of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and you did 
not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord, your 
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
of bondage. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 
any likeness of anything 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 to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord 
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children to the third and fourth generations of those who 
hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me 
and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of 
the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless 
who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep 
it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall 
labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath 
of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you 
nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your 
female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your 
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your 
male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 
And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, And the 
Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and 
by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God 
commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your 
mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days 
may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which 
the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall 
not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall 
not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not 
covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not desire your neighbor's 
house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his 
donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. These words the Lord 
spoke to all your assembly in the mountain, from the midst 
of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness with a loud voice. And he added no more. He wrote 
them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our blessed 
God and our Holy Father, we give you thanks for this opportunity 
to gather in your house on this Lord's day. We ask now that you 
would forgive us for all of our transgression and sin. As we 
read your holy law, we see how far short we come. God, as we 
read your holy law, we are thankful for the law keeper, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We thank you for the imputed 
righteousness of Christ received by faith alone. We thank you 
so very much that you have justified us freely by your grace. God, 
let us never forget we're justified. We're pointed back to this law, 
prescribe for us a manner of life. Help us, Father, by your 
Spirit to pursue these things, not so that we can be saved, 
but because you have saved us, because you have redeemed us, 
because you have brought us out of the house of bondage, out 
of slavery to sin. Now give us grace, Almighty God, 
to do those things which are pleasing in your sight. We ask 
our Father that you would fill each and every one of us with 
your Holy Spirit now, to give us understanding to this first 
commandment, this first word. Help us to see, Lord God, where 
our allegiance needs to be. Help us to see that God must 
be uppermost and first in our minds and in our hearts and in 
our actions. Grant us grace in these things, 
we pray, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, 
the first four commandments, there are other ways to number 
the Ten Commandments, but we're going to take the typical and 
traditional Protestant way. The first four commandments deal 
with our duty toward God, and the latter six, our duty toward 
man. And these first four commandments 
specifically deal with His worship, His name, and His day. When we 
look at the first and the second commandment, they are closely 
joined together. The first commandment describes 
for us the object of our worship. It identifies that it's Yahweh, 
our God. We are to have no other gods 
before Him. And then the second commandment prescribes the manner, 
the way we are to worship Him. We are not to do so with idols. 
We are not to do so in a false way, but rather we are to approach 
the true and living God, we are to hold Him in allegiance alone, 
and we are to engage in the worship in the way that He has prescribed. 
One commentator, Christopher Wright, says concerning this 
first word, the primary purpose of the primary commandment is 
to assert and protect the exclusive covenantal sovereignty of Yahweh 
as God over the Israelites and their exclusive covenantal allegiance 
to Him. It's no accident that the Ten 
Commandments start here. It's no accident that the Ten 
Commandments don't begin with man, they begin with God. There's 
a priority here and we as God's people need to appreciate that 
and we need to understand that. So we'll look at this First Commandment 
under two considerations. The prohibition of the commandment, 
what we are forbidden to do. And then secondly, the positive 
aspect of the commandment. This is a type of treatment of 
the Ten Commandments that has a rich pedigree in Reformed theology. Most of the systematic theologies 
that I'm aware of, the Westminster Confession of Faith, they typically 
do this. They look at the negative, they 
look at the positive. They look at the prohibition, 
they look at what we are told to do. when we look at, say, 
for instance, the commandment, you shall not murder. Not only 
are we told not to go out and murder, but conversely we are 
to promote life, we are to try and help life, we are to try 
and promote life. When we look at the commandment, 
you shall not commit adultery, yes, we are restricted from going 
out and committing adultery, but we're seeking to promote 
righteousness in that particular area. So the first commandment 
is like that. It is phrased negatively, You 
shall have no other gods before me." We'll look at that, and 
then we'll look at the positive aspects of the command. Note 
first, with reference to the command, the other gods. You shall have no other gods 
before me. Is Yahweh acknowledging the existence 
of other gods? Is Yahweh saying there's a host 
of gods, and out of that host of gods, I want to be first and 
foremost, I want to be uppermost, in your minds and hearts. Certainly 
He wants to be uppermost in our minds and hearts, but is He acknowledging 
the reality that there are these other gods? The meaning is not, 
there are other gods and you do well to not follow them, but 
Yahweh. Remember this people, they came 
out of Egypt where they were shown or where they came into 
contact with false gods. Remember, they're poised on the 
plains of Moab. They're getting ready to enter 
into the promised land. They're going to go into Canaan. 
And what do we know is there? There's a lot of false gods. 
There are idols. There are the Baals and the Asherahs 
and the various sorts of things. that the Canaanites would worship, 
Molan. So what God does is tell them 
they are not to engage in idolatry. They are not to substitute Yahweh 
with one of these idols or one of these false gods. Notice as 
well, you shall have no other gods before me, or the new King 
James margin has besides me. The idea here again is that God 
demands our allegiance. And when we consider who God 
is, this is perfectly natural. This is perfectly legitimate. 
God the Lord created us. God the Lord sustains us. God 
the Lord governs us. And if we are privileged to be 
believers in the Lord Jesus, God the Lord has redeemed us. So it is a natural, it follows 
naturally that God demands complete allegiance from his people. This 
is the thrust of Paul in Romans chapter 12. Based on his exposition 
of the gospel in chapters 1 to 11, He brings it to some practical 
conclusions or practical implications. In Romans 12, he says, I beseech 
you, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice 
unto God. He says, this is your reasonable 
or your rational or your spiritual service unto God. In other words, 
it flows, it follows, it is consistent, it is legitimate. The Lord has 
saved you. freely justified you by His grace. He has given you the imputed 
righteousness of Jesus. He has given you peace with God. He has given you every spiritual 
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Therefore, present 
your bodies as a living sacrifice. The people of God ought to willingly 
yield allegiance to the Lord Most High. As well, when we look 
at this, the original has it before my face. You shall have 
no other gods before my face. The Westminster Larger Catechism 
comments on this. It says these words before me 
or before my face in the first commandment teach us. that God, 
who seeth all things, taketh special notice of, and is much 
displeased with, the sin of having any other God." On the one hand, 
this is right. We shall have no other gods before 
God. We shall have no other gods before 
His face. We shall have no other gods besides God. But the emphasis 
seems to be, or is intimated, that God is watching. God sees 
the people of Israel as they're gathered in the plains of Moab. 
God sees when these people will go into Canaan. God sees us when 
we are not in the corporate body of His people. He sees us on 
a daily basis. He understands where our allegiance 
lies. He knows that where our treasure 
is, there our heart will be also. And so the Lord God says that 
it is His omniscience, it is His sovereignty, it is His majesty 
that is one of the reasons why we ought to shun this whole idea 
that we would ever bow to another, that we would ever give preference 
to another, that we would ever give our allegiance to another. 
Back to the catechism. He taketh special notice of and 
is much displeased with the sin of having any other God, that 
so it may be an argument to dissuade from it and to aggravate it as 
a most impudent provocation. In other words, when you sin, 
be mindful of the fact that God is watching. Now, I know that 
sometimes as parents we do this with our children. God's watching 
you. God's going to get you. We sort of use God as a club 
to make sure that they tow the line. It's not altogether a bad 
thing. The eyes of the Lord are in every 
place, beholding the good and the evil. We need to understand 
as God's people that the eyes of the Lord are in every place. Note how Solomon exhorts his 
sons to sexual fidelity in Proverbs chapter 5. Proverbs 5.8, he says, 
remove your way far from her. Do not go near the door of her 
house. Call these the three R's to sexual purity. Three R's to 
sexual purity. Proverbs 5.8, remove your way 
far from her and do not go near the door of her house. You shouldn't 
be there. You should cut a large swath 
around it. Not, don't go near her bed, but 
don't go near her door. Because Solomon knows that if 
you go near the door, it's not going to be long before you're 
near her bed. Notice in the second case, the second R, verse 18. Rejoice with the wife of your 
youth. That is a great remedy and a 
great benefit and a great help to protect a man or a woman in 
this particular area, as we saw this morning. But because of 
uncleanness, nevertheless, let a man take a wife. And then note 
the third R, verse 21. It's not stated there, but we 
can think of the word Remember, for the ways of man are before 
the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. So when we consider this first 
word, you shall have no other gods before my face. It is high treason. It is abominable. It is wretched and wicked and 
evil to court and idol in the presence of the living and true 
God. This is the emphasis of the statement. Now note, secondly, as we consider 
the prohibition, the things forbidden. We could just indicate some things 
here. I don't think this will be a surprise to any of us. The 
first is atheism. Atheism is condemned by the first 
commandment. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall have no other gods 
besides me. You shall have no other gods 
other than me. An atheist rejects God. An atheist pushes Yahweh out 
of his own universe. I speak as a man. He can never 
do that. But notice in Psalm 10, verse 4. Psalm 10, verse 
4. We're going to look at some passages 
tonight just to flesh out this first commandment. Psalm 10, 
verse 4. The wicked in his proud countenance 
does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Now, if that describes you tonight, 
may I say, you need to flee to the Lord Jesus. As we've been 
studying the book of 1 Samuel, we have noticed that the way 
God moves, or the way God works, we have two men in Saul and David. 
We cannot say that God is after sinlessness, because He knows 
that none of us will ever be sinless. David was a sinful man. Saul, of course, was a sinful 
man. But one of the fundamental differences between these two 
men was that David was submissive to the Lord. It wasn't sinlessness, 
but it was submissiveness. Submissiveness to the Lord. David 
always had God in his thoughts. I think this is indicative of 
a new creation in Christ Jesus. It doesn't mean they're praying 
24-7. It doesn't mean they've always got their Bibles open. 
But it does mean they live quorum Deo. They live in the presence 
of God. They're mindful that God is on 
high. They are mindful that He's watching 
their ways. They are mindful of the reality 
that God is worthy. of all that they have, and when 
they fall short, and when they sin, they confess and they forsake, 
and by the grace of God they find mercy. But what identifies 
and what is indicative of the godless is that he does not seek 
God. God is in none of his thoughts. Psalm 14.1, the fool has said, 
there is no God. The fool has said in his heart, 
there is no God. I love Edward's rendition of 
that. or gloss of that, or explanation 
of that. The fool has said in his heart, 
there is no God. Edwards explains it this way. 
The fool has said in his heart, no God. Not the denial of God, 
but, no, God, you are not in my life. I don't want you in 
my life. I want to exclude you. I want 
to live as if there is no God. I want to conduct myself in this 
manner. Now, we may not be doctrinal 
atheists, but there is such a thing as a practical atheism. We have 
a lot of doctrine in our church. We get a lot of teaching. We 
get the exposition of scripture. We get our confession of faith 
explained. We have Wednesday night Bible studies. We have 
other people that we like to talk to. And we have theological 
discourse. When we're not acting upon that 
knowledge, when we're not living in light of that truth, when 
we're not seeking to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel, 
when we're not growing in the grace and in the knowledge of 
the Lord, when we're not pursuing holiness without which no one 
will see the Lord, when we're not perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God, and we're not following those things, what is that but 
a practical atheism? On the one hand, we say we know 
all this stuff, but if it's not fleshed out through our hands, 
it's not fleshed out through our feet, it's not fleshed out 
in the way that we conduct ourselves, then we are in many ways like 
the atheist. It may not be a doctrinal atheist, 
we may not actually voice that there is no God, but our patterns 
of life and the way that we conduct ourselves give evidence of the 
fact that we say, with this man, no God. Are we with this man 
in Psalm 10.4? God is in none of his thoughts. A second thing prohibited by 
the first word is polytheism. Polytheism, the acknowledgement, 
worship and service of a multitude of gods. Poly means many. Syncretism is polytheistic and 
thus condemned by God. Syncretism means we take a little 
of this and we marry it with that in order to do this. And 
syncretism, as I'm using it here, means on the one hand affirming 
Yahweh, but on the other hand, putting our arms around other 
gods. There is a beautiful illustration of this. It's not beautiful because 
of what's happening. It's actually pretty gross. But 
it's a wonderful description of syncretism in 2 Kings 17. After the fall of the northern 
kingdom, what Assyria did when they came to invade a people, 
it was really quite ingenious. They would take coastal peoples 
and put them in mountainous regions or put mountainous people in 
coastal regions, kind of throw them off kilter. There were some 
persons left in Samaria after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. 
And we see that God, or that the people of Assyria, when they 
settled that particular land, they started to worship their 
idols. They started to worship their false gods. And what happens 
is God sends lions to kill them. It's just amazing. I've often 
said, if you open your door and there's a lion standing there, 
you have done something wrong. I don't know if you saw that 
in the news, some zoo somewhere, there was a flood and animals 
escaped and I saw this hippo walking down the street. I've 
often said this too, hungry, hungry hippos is probably the 
worst game you could teach a kid. It's the worst animal you could 
ever play with. Hippos are vicious. You see a 
hippo walking down your street, get out of the way. God sends 
lions to deal with the people. So what do they do? They find 
a priest, a remnant from Israel, a remnant from Samaria. And he 
teaches them about Yahweh. And it says that they worship 
Yahweh with their gods. They made these gods, they manufactured 
these gods, they manufactured them, and they feared Yahweh. 
Well, if you know anything about the Bible, the author is being 
ironic. It is dripping with irony. You 
don't serve Yahweh and your gods. You don't serve Yahweh while 
you're carrying a prostitute to His altar. You don't serve 
Yahweh and Molech. It is God alone, polytheism, 
syncretism. It is condemned by the first 
word. There's another illustration 
in the prophet Zephaniah. You can turn there. Habakkuk, 
Zephaniah. In the minor prophets. Reasons why there is judgment 
coming upon Judah. Reasons why there is judgment 
coming upon Judah. Idolatry, syncretism and practical 
atheism. Notice in chapter 1 of the prophet 
Zephaniah, verse 4. I will stretch out my hand against 
Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off 
every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous 
priests with the pagan priests, those who worship the host of 
heaven on the housetops, those who worship and swear oaths by 
the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom. You see, you can't 
do that. You don't swear by Yahweh and 
Milcom. You don't swear by Yahweh while 
you're worshiping the hosts of heaven. You cannot marry Yahweh 
with these other gods and think that now you're complete. The 
Lord God Most High demands allegiance from His people. Notice in verse 
6, those who have turned back from following the Lord and have 
not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him. Again, the idea there 
being a practical atheism. They haven't sought Him and they 
haven't inquired of Him. Do you realize that? If you are 
not seeking God, if you're not reading your Bible, if you're 
not inquiring of Him, you're not praying to Him, isn't that 
a practical atheism? If you continually neglect the 
means of grace, if you continually neglect your Bibles, you continually 
neglect prayer, you continually neglect the public means of preaching 
and Lord's Supper, when you neglect those things you are giving evidence 
that you are engaged in a practical atheism. God is not in your thoughts. Now, I'm not saying we can quantify 
this. If you've read your Bible for 48 minutes over the course 
of the week, then we know that God is in your thoughts. The 
point being is that when God is in our thoughts, we will seek 
Him. We will try and find Him. We 
will pray to Him. We will search the scriptures. 
We will attend to the exposition of preaching. We will come when 
the householder offers us supper. We will eat this bread. We will 
drink this cup. And we will do so in remembrance 
of our blessed Lord, to the confirming of our faith, and the increase 
of our grace, and all of the benefit that God has promised. 
Syncretism is a denial of Yahweh. In the third place, idolatry. 
Substituting something else for the true and living God. First 
commandment tells us that idolatry is committed when we worship 
a false God. When we worship a false God, 
we have committed idolatry. We have broken the commandment. 
The second commandment, however, tells us that we are guilty of 
worshiping the true God falsely. See, we need to understand this. 
Our God has defined what acceptable worship is. Our God has spoken. Our God has revealed Himself. And our God is jealous that men, 
women, boys and girls who confess His Son worship Him in spirit 
and in truth. Not according to their whims, 
not according to their wills, not according to their experience, 
not according to what feels right or feels good or makes me shine. That's not important. What is 
important is that we worship the true God truly. The second 
commandment prohibits false worship of the true God. Notice, specifically 
in Deuteronomy 4. Notice verse 12. Now verse 11, 
Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, 
and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, 
with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke 
to you out of the midst of the fire. Doesn't this set off biblical 
religion from all others? The fact is, God spoke. This 
is how the writer of the book of Hebrews starts off. God spoke. 
That's what we hang our hats on. That's what we hang our souls 
on. It is the revelation of God Most High. Specifically, the 
Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Notice, you 
heard the sound of the words, but saw no form. You only heard 
a voice. So He declared to you His covenant 
which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments, and He 
wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded 
me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you 
might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. 
Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the 
Lord spoke to you at Horeb, out of the midst of the fire, lest 
you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in 
the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness 
of any animal that is on the earth, or the likeness of any 
winged bird that flies in the air. the likeness of anything 
that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish that 
is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift 
your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and 
the stars, all the hosts of heaven, you feel driven to worship them 
and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the 
peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage." You see, you 
heard. You didn't see. Therefore, put 
your hammer and chisel down, and do not fashion for yourselves 
an idol. Brother, you may think this emphasis 
is somewhat misplaced. When we get to the second commandment, 
and the fourth commandment, and the third commandment, you may 
think the emphasis is somewhat misplaced. You see, we live in 
a day and age where if we just stop sex, trade, trafficking, 
and we stop abortion, then everything will be beautiful. Believe me, 
brethren, I'd love to see the sex trade or sex trafficking 
stop. I'd love to see abortion stop. 
But imagine if we stamped out all those particulars And we 
rush into God's presence without addressing Him as the High and 
Holy One. We rush into God's presence and we don't worship 
Him the way He prescribes, but in the way we feel. Notice that? You feel driven to worship. We let our feelings govern. We 
let our feelings dictate. We let emotion run roughshod 
over truth. It's the feelings we crave. It's not the glory of God that 
we want. Brethren, we need to work not 
just on the latter half or the second table. There needs to 
be reformation in this first table of the law as well. Fidelity 
to Yahweh alone. Not engaging in idolatry under 
the guise of Christian worship. Not blaspheming His name by the 
way that we conduct ourselves or the way that we speak concerning 
Him. The Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep 
it holy. You know how much ink is spilt 
on dealing with the social ills of our day? And again, they ought 
to be dealt with. How many persons take seriously 
this fourth word? How many persons actually think 
that God means business, that we come in out from the world 
one day, one day out of the seven, and worship the living and the 
true God? Brethren, we need reformation 
in the entire Decalogue. It's not just two or three commandments 
that we need to work on. In the first commandment, as 
Christopher Wright says, the primary commandment is to assert 
and protect the exclusive covenantal sovereignty of Yahweh as God. In the third place, sorcery and 
witchcraft. The scriptures are clear here. 
Sorcery and witchcraft, Leviticus 19.26, Deuteronomy 18.9-14, Acts 
19.18-19. What happens in Acts? In Ephesus, 
the persons burned their books that were filled with the occult 
arts and the black arts. Revelation 21.8, sorcery is condemned. It's the word pharmakoi. It's 
uniquely linked or it's linked to the use of drugs. And then 
Revelation 22.15, sorcery and witchcraft. This is condemned 
by God. These are rivals to Yahweh of 
Israel and we cannot entertain those things. In the fifth place, 
heresy. Heresy. You say, well, that's 
a stretch. You shall have no other gods before me. What is 
heresy? It is perverting the truth of 
the living and true God. Listen to James Durham on this 
issue of heresy. or in terms of condemning many 
that this command deals with. All gross idolaters of any sort 
who usually are mentioned under the name of heathens, they're 
certainly condemned by the first commandment. Jews who worship 
not the true God in his son, Jesus Christ. All heretics that 
deny the Godhead of any of the persons as Sibelians, who make 
but one person, Arians, who make Christ a made God, Photinians, 
who make Him a pure man, and all that make a plurality of 
gods, or that lessen the divine attributes, and give to saints 
God's due, in adoration or invocation, or in a word, whoever contradict 
any truth or maintain any error." They didn't play games in the 
Puritan era. You know how much error and falsehood 
and vile things get promoted in the name of Jesus today? I've said this before as well, 
if a man commits adultery, he's a minister of the gospel, he 
is defrocked, and rightly so. A man who cannot prove faithful 
in that area, he cannot demonstrate marital fidelity, ought not to 
be in the pulpit. Not to say he can't be forgiven, 
not to say he can't go to heaven, not to say that the blood of 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, won't wash him from his sins. 
But what of heretics? What of men who deny the Trinity? 
What of men who deny justification by faith alone? What of men who 
deny the person and the work of our Lord Jesus? What of men 
who deny cardinal truth in the Christian system? Well, somehow 
we don't count that as big of a problem. There was an interesting 
thing that occurred over the last several years. I won't name 
names. It was a particularly famous pastor. that was engaged 
in some particular shenanigans and ultimately he resigned his 
post. But it's intriguing to me that prior to his actually 
getting caught in trouble or getting in trouble, he gave the 
right hand of fellowship to a modalist. Now a modalist is what Durham 
calls a Sibelian. Modalism is this idea that there 
are not three persons in the Godhead. Modalism teaches that 
God was the Father He becomes the Son, and now He's the Holy 
Spirit. Now that's an overly simple definition, 
but you get the point. God comes in certain modes, Father 
or Son or Holy Spirit. It's not three persons in one 
divine essence. That went pretty much unchecked. Yeah, there were certain persons 
that blogged about it and a certain bit of ruckus was made. But it 
wasn't until this man was found out committing plagiarism that 
then everybody just went nuts. Now, I'm not here to justify 
plagiarism. I think plagiarism is bad. But 
a denial of the Trinity or giving truck to somebody that denies 
the Trinity is bad too. What does it say about our priorities? 
Don't violate that second table of the law. We really don't care 
about the first. Now, again, we don't voice it 
that way, but when we engage in these sorts of things, it 
certainly looks that way. If we were really concerned with 
and consumed for the glory of God, we would make sure that 
no man ever stands behind a pulpit that does not understand orthodoxy. A man who can't explain justification 
by faith alone shouldn't be a preacher. A man who can't explain, at least 
in a bare-bones sense, the Trinity. He doesn't belong in a pulpit. 
A man who can't explain justification and sanctification and the relation 
between the two, he doesn't belong in the pulpit. He can go study, 
he can go pray, he can learn, and if he gets good, well then, 
fine. But do not admit men into that 
place where they're going to do damage to the word of the 
living God. He goes on to say, whoever contradict 
any truth or maintain any error, for thereby they faceted upon 
God and his word and wrong him who owns no such thing. And to 
these may be added all ignorant persons who know not God. So you may be sitting there tonight 
saying, wow, okay, we've looked at some of the things forbidden 
by the commandment. I'm not an atheist, I'm not a 
polytheist, I don't engage in idolatry, I'm not a sorcerer 
or into witchcraft, and I'm certainly not heretical. What about this 
one that I think is a bit closer to home? Preferring the creature 
above the creator. You say, well, I don't do that. 
This one is particularly subtle because here's what happens. 
We can take something good. You see, when we look at sorcery 
and witchcraft, we look at heresy, we look at syncretism or polytheism, 
we can just see that's bad. But when we see family, or when 
we see money, or when we see work, or when we see, you know, 
enjoyment of certain things, those aren't necessarily bad. It's not bad to have a family. 
It's not bad to have a wife. It's not bad to have a husband. 
It's not bad to have children. It's not bad to have parents. 
These are legitimate and good things. But are we preferring 
those legitimate and good things above the Creator? We need to 
ask ourselves this. Jesus speaks to this specifically 
in Matthew's gospel in chapter six. You cannot serve God and 
mammon. As C.S. Lewis said, sometimes 
a young man says that he's making his way in the world when he 
doesn't realize the world is making its way in his own heart. You see, that's subtlety. It's 
easy to see a totem pole and not bow down to it. We pat ourselves 
on the back that we're faithful to the first word. It's easy 
to see somebody engaged in, you know, drug abuse and worshipping 
that particular chemical substance. I mean, isn't it worship? Whatever 
you give your time, money, and energy to, ultimately that is 
what you worship, isn't it? Time, money, and energy get directed 
to the things that we love above all else. So take that and consider 
this. Are you putting the creature 
above the creator? The ways obvious are Fischer 
in this regard. Listen to what Fischer, Edward 
Fischer in his Marrow of Modern Divinity says. In a word, whatsoever 
the mind of man is carried after, or his heart and affection set 
upon, either more or as much as upon God, that he makes his 
God." Let me just read that again. In a word, whatsoever the mind 
of man is carried after, or his heart and affection set upon, 
either more or as much as upon God, that he makes his God. I think that's one that's closer 
to home for each and every one of us in this place that profess 
faith in Jesus. You may not be an atheist. You 
may not be bowing to a rock. You may not be conjuring up spirits 
at a black mass. You may not be engaged in that 
sort of obvious transgression of the first commandment, but 
are you setting your affections on the creature above the creator? That's the subtlety. That's the 
subtlety. Good things abused. Good things worshipped. Good things devoured rather than 
consuming or being consumed with God. Now let's look at the positive 
aspects of the commandment. In the first place, the knowledge 
of God. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall have no other gods 
before my face. What does this demand? That we 
know the true and living God. That we understand who He is. That we get our minds wrapped 
around doctrine. That we learn theology proper. That at a minimum, we commit 
to memory. What is God? God is spirit, infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable. In His being, wisdom, power, 
holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Do we understand who 
this living God is? We must know the God of 5-6 in 
order to obey the command in 5-7. Again, James Durham, it 
requires the right knowledge of God. For there can be no true 
worship given to Him. There can be no right thought 
or conception of Him or faith in Him till He be known. Does 
everybody understand this? It's pretty elementary, but it 
bears repetition. And I think it serves as an indictment. 
There are times we express a willful ignorance, again, absenting ourselves 
from the Bible, or from prayer, or from the public means. Brethren, 
growth in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord doesn't happen by 
osmosis. You can put your Bible under 
your pillow tonight, lay your head down, and nothing's going 
to happen. It's not magic that's going to, you know, float out 
or waft out into your head. You have to open it. And you 
have to read it. You have to show up the public 
means and pay attention. You have to stretch yourselves. This is the living and true God 
who inhabits eternity, who has revealed Himself in the 66th 
book of Old and New Testament. The Creator has spoken to the 
creature. That is a privilege and a benefit 
and a joy. We've got the privilege to study 
who He is. We must know Him in order to 
fall lockstep in with the command. Again, back to Durham, it requires 
the right knowledge of God, for there can be no true worship 
given to Him. There can be no right thought 
or conception of Him or faith in Him till He be known. He must 
be known to be one God in essence, Deuteronomy 6, 4, and three persons. 1 John 5, 7. He must be known 
in his attributes and essential properties, infiniteness, immenseness, 
unchangeableness, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, wisdom, goodness, 
justice, and faithfulness. He must be known in his special 
works, whereby his sovereignty and majesty appears as his works 
of creation, providence, redemption, and what concerns it as the covenant 
of grace and its terms, the mediator and his offices. No service or 
worship can be offered to God, nor can we have any ground of 
faith in him without some measure of distinct knowledge of these. You've got to know the God revealed 
in the Bible to have no other gods before his face. In the 
second place, the love of God. This is a positive aspect of 
the commandment. Love to God. What does this knowledge 
of God produce in the knower? It produces love to him. Go forward 
to Deuteronomy 6, the Shema. Verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the 
Lord our God, the Lord is one. Now note the response to that 
confession of Israel, that central confession of Israel's faith 
contained in verse 4. The Lord our God, the Lord is 
one. You shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, with all your soul. and with all your 
strength." This is the proper response to who God is. This is the expression or one 
of the chief expressions that we indeed have no other gods 
before his face. Love to God, love for God, love 
to the persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit. This is an expression of a man's 
highest allegiance. Jesus says, where your treasure 
is, there your heart will be also. So I don't think it's a 
stretch to say what you spend most of your money on and most 
of your time on and most of your energy on is what you worship. 
I don't think that's heretical. I mean, you may not like it, 
you may disagree, maybe I could word it a little bit differently, 
but think about it. If God is the Lord described 
in the Bible, and God the Lord has redeemed us in a manner described 
in the Bible through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
what ought we to be consumed with in terms of our money, in 
terms of our time, in terms of our energy? It ought to be the 
service of God. love to God. Knowledge, love, 
thirdly, fear. The fear of God goes hand in 
hand with the love of God. The fear of God goes hand in 
hand with the love of God. Notice in 5.28, at the end of 
the chapter, having given the Decalogue, 5.28, Then the Lord 
heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And the 
Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this 
people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all 
that they have spoken. that they had such a heart in 
them, that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, 
that it might be well with them and with their children forever." 
You see, love and the fear of God go hand in hand together. 
They lead to obedience. It leads to doing what God commands, 
to respecting His Word, to pursuing those things which are pleasing 
in His sight. In the fourth place, we've got 
love, fear, obedience. Actually, in the fifth place, 
trust in God. See, when we know this God, what 
will we do? We will depend upon Him, won't we? You know, one 
of my sons, or both of my sons and I, amused one time, or one 
of them reminded me, something Ralph Davis says, or has said 
in a sermon, I'm sure he says it a lot, Yahweh has a track 
record of faithfulness. Doesn't he? Yahweh has a track 
record in faithfulness. Look at the history of Israel. 
Where is Yahweh? He is there to deliver His people. 
Where is Yahweh? According to the New Testament, 
He is there to deliver His people. Cast your burdens upon God because 
He cares for you. You see, when we know God, when 
we love God, when we fear God, when we obey God, we're trusting 
in God. We depend upon Him. We find our 
refuge in Him. We take our solace under His 
shadow. And then in the sixth place, 
the worship of God. You see, we want to respond properly. You shall have no other gods 
before my face. That leads inevitably into verse 
8, which describes the manner by which God is to be worshipped. 
And Lord willing, we'll pick up that commandment the next 
time. In conclusion, we need to understand 
the Bible universally condemns idolatry. There's never a time 
where it's okay to commit idolatry. Look at Isaiah the prophet chapter 
44 for just a moment. Two chapters prior to what Mike 
read in the outset of worship. Look at the folly of idolatry. Look at how foolish idolatry 
is. Verse 9 of Isaiah 44, those who 
make an image, all of them are useless and their precious things 
shall not profit. They are their own witnesses. 
They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. Who would 
form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all 
his companions would be ashamed, and the workmen, they are mere 
men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. 
Yet they shall fear. They shall be ashamed together. 
The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions 
it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. 
Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no 
water in his faint. The craftsman stretches out his 
rule. He marks one out with chalk. He fashions it with a plane. 
He marks it out with a compass and makes it like the figure 
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain 
in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself 
and takes the cypress and the oak. He secures it for himself 
among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine and the rain 
nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to 
burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he 
kindles it and bakes bread. Indeed, he makes a god and worships 
it. He makes it a carved image and 
falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire. 
With this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast and is satisfied. 
He even warms himself and says, aha, I'm warm. I've seen the 
fire and the rest of it he makes into a god. His carved image, 
he falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, deliver 
me for you are my god. You see what Isaiah is saying? 
Isaiah is saying that idolatry is foolishness. Notice in 46, 
Bell bows down and Nebo stoops. Their idols were on the beasts 
and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded. 
A burden to the weary beasts. They stoop, they bow down together. 
They could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into 
captivity. You know what that means? Bell 
and Nebo are being carted by beasts. Bel and Nebo are being 
carried by beasts. Bel and Nebo are so ineffective 
that when Babylon goes into exile or when Babylon enters into their 
own chastisement under Persia, Bel and Nebo cannot deliver that. It's a big contrast between verses 
3 and 4. Listen to me, O house of Jacob, 
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld 
by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Even to 
your old age, I am he, and even to gray hairs, I will carry you. Beasts carry Bel and Nebo, Yahweh 
carries his people. Idolatry is folly. That God will 
never serve, that God will never save, that God will never deliver. You may pursue these things till 
you're blue in the face. There will never be satisfaction. Idolatry is condemned throughout 
the scriptures. It is a dishonor to God and it 
is degrading to men. It is degradation to a man to 
give himself over to idols. I love what Beale says in this 
regard concerning idolatry. If you want to read a good book, 
A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, G.K. Beale, the thesis statement 
is, what you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or for restoration. What you revere, what you worship, 
you resemble, either for ruin or restoration. When we worship 
the true and living God, He conforms us onto the image of His Son. 
We grow in holiness, we grow in righteousness, we grow in 
those things that are pleasing in His sight. When we worship 
methamphetamine, what happens? Our teeth fall out of our head. 
When we worship crack cocaine, what happens? We sell houses 
and we lose families and we lose jobs. When we worship money, 
what happens? We become slaves. You see, it's 
degrading. What we revere, we resemble, 
either for restoration or ruin. You gotta understand that the 
Bible is no friend to idolatry. We had time, we developed Romans 
chapter one. What an expose of the idolatry 
of man. They exchanged the truth of God 
for the lie. And they worship and serve the 
creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. The second 
use, or the second means of application. When we come to this first commandment, 
remember the pedagogical use. The law shows us our need for 
the Savior. A fellow by the name of Klaus 
Bachmuel said this, the first commandment is always a call 
to repentance because we are rarely single-minded in our commitment 
to God. The commandment taken seriously 
produces the response, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You see, there's a pedagogical 
function for us as believers in the new covenant from this 
first word. It calls us to recognize the 
reality of how far short we have fallen and how wonderful it is 
that Jesus Christ paid it all. In the third place, we need to 
remember the normative use of the first word. In other words, 
the normative use is how then ought we to live. God has redeemed 
us like he did with Israel, bringing them out of the house of bondage. 
God has brought us from darkness into marvelous light. What should 
we learn with reference to the first word? In the first place, 
a rejection of false gods. First John, how does he end his 
epistle? Everybody be happy. Buck up. Enjoy life. Smile. Jesus is my co-pilot. Just think 
of any modern bumper sticker. That's not how John ends. Little 
children, keep yourselves from idols. Little children, keep 
yourselves from idols. But John, they're little children. 
That means they're believers, right? Little children, keep 
yourselves from idols. Keep yourselves from preferring 
the creature rather or over than the creator. Beware of the tendency 
and the real temptation to take good things and substitute them 
or substitute God for them. In the second place, we need 
to express allegiance to the Creator rather than the creature. Now, that doesn't mean we hate 
our families. It doesn't mean we kick, you know, everybody. Get away from me, I'm worshiping 
God. No. It's a matter of priority. Seek first the Kingdom of God 
and His righteousness and these things will be added unto you. 
In the third place, we ought to cultivate the knowledge of 
God. I know that in churches that 
emphasize doctrine, typically they're confessional churches, 
reform churches, we like our doctrine. We like the truth, 
we like to talk about it, we like to discuss it, we like to 
preach it. It's not just because it's some 
theoretical thing. You realize that the knowledge 
that we possess is what drives the pursuit of righteousness. 
Theory precedes application. I've noticed that whenever anyone 
decries orthodoxy, and I don't mean the Eastern Orthodox movement, 
I mean that insistence upon right doctrine. Well, orthodoxy alone 
isn't enough. Okay. But it seems to me that 
whenever we say that, orthodoxy ends up dying or being pushed 
off to the side. When we understand the truth, 
we are in the position then to pursue holiness. How do I know 
what holiness is if I don't pay attention to what God says? I 
may feel driven to worship the hosts of heaven. It may just 
seem right. It may just feel good. It may 
just bring personal satisfaction. No, I need to hear the Word of 
the Living God and I need to understand what He says so that 
I can respond accordingly. We need to insist upon orthodoxy 
because it produces orthopraxy, right practice. When Paul prays 
for the Colossians, he says, for this reason we also, since 
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that 
you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and 
spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, 
fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing 
in the knowledge of God. That's just part of being a Christian. This is what we should desire. 
This is what we should aim after. And then the normative use demands 
the manifestation of love to, the fear of, trust in, obedience 
unto, and the worship of the true and living God. Now, if 
you have come here tonight and you're not a Christian, I want 
you to hear that word. You shall have no other gods 
before my face. You need to ponder that. You 
need to consider that. You need to understand that whatever 
it is you're pursuing, whatever is the object of your affection, 
whatever is that which you value the most, and oftentimes expressing 
it in the way that you spend your money, in the way that you 
spend your time, and in the way that you spend your energy, God 
Almighty sees that. It is being done before Him. 
He knows where your allegiance lies. The only hope for refuge, 
the only hope for life, the only hope for forgiveness, is at the 
cross. It is in Jesus the Lord. It is 
in the law keeper, the one who did always what the Father commanded, 
and the one who ultimately gave Himself for the sins of all those 
whom the Father had given Him. Flee. Run. Do not stop. Go to Jesus Christ. Find refuge 
in Him. Foul I to the fountain fly. I know I repeated this this morning, 
but it bears repetition tonight. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash 
me, Savior, or I die. I have had other gods. I have 
worshipped other things. I have been engaged in other 
things. I have given my allegiance to that which is not God. Stop 
and desist and repent and flee. Flee to the Lord of glory. And 
you will hear the testimony from a whole host of ex-idolaters 
that God took us. God saved us. Some of us were 
worshipping things that had no business being worshipped. And 
God the Lord, in His mercy, washed us, cleansed us, and justified 
us freely by His grace. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank 
you for the word of God, we thank you for the law of God, and we 
pray that we'd have a proper understanding of it, that we 
would grow in our knowledge and understanding of the truth as 
a whole, and that we would respond to you in love. that we would 
respond to you with fear and with trust and with obedience 
and worship, all the things that is due to such a great and glorious 
God. Keep us from preferring the creature 
over the Creator. Keep us, Father, from engaging 
in those things that are clearly condemned in the Word. And as 
we consider this commandment, thank you for the Lord Jesus. 
Thank you for the provision of grace. Thank you for the mercy 
that you have poured out upon us. Go with us now and watch 
over us in this coming week. Grant us grace to glorify and 
honor you in this world. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen.