1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the Old 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:07,600 Testament book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 5. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:11,600 If you're using the red Bibles, you can see the page printed for 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,120 you in the Bible or in the in the bulletin of where you can 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:16,720 find it in the red Bibles around you. 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,920 Deuteronomy chapter 5. Beginning our summer series 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,520 going through the 10 commandments. 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,520 And today we start with the first commandment. 9 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:31,440 Listen as I read to you the first verses of chapter 5. 10 00:00:38,140 --> 00:00:42,180 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O 11 00:00:42,180 --> 00:00:45,660 Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your 12 00:00:45,660 --> 00:00:49,500 hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do 13 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:52,260 them. The Lord our God made a covenant 14 00:00:52,260 --> 00:00:55,540 with us in Oreb. Not with our fathers did the 15 00:00:55,540 --> 00:00:59,140 Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here 16 00:00:59,140 --> 00:01:02,720 alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to 17 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,520 face at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, while I stood 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,000 between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,960 of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did 20 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:20,000 not go up into the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God, 21 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,880 who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the House of 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,240 slavery. You shall have no other gods 23 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,000 before me. Let's pray together. 24 00:01:36,450 --> 00:01:39,730 Father, we thank you for this portion of Your word, this 25 00:01:39,730 --> 00:01:43,450 portion of Your law. We thank You for giving it to 26 00:01:43,450 --> 00:01:47,330 Your people so long ago. We thank You that we have it 27 00:01:47,330 --> 00:01:51,290 today. As we take time to meditate upon 28 00:01:51,290 --> 00:01:54,810 it today and throughout the summer, would you, through the 29 00:01:54,810 --> 00:01:57,730 work of the Holy Spirit, open our eyes and our hearts to see 30 00:01:57,730 --> 00:02:02,200 wonderful things. Remind us of who you are. 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,120 Remind us of who we are. Remind us of all that you have 32 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,919 accomplished for us, especially through the Lord Jesus Christ 33 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:16,960 and His work here on earth. Pray all this in His name, Amen. 34 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:26,880 A parable is told. A man owed a great debt to a 35 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,200 wealthy businessman. The man couldn't pay the debt, 36 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:35,240 and so he was put into prison. He stayed in prison for a long 37 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,920 time. Every day he woke up with iron 38 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,800 prison bars in front of him, doors that were locked. 39 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,640 Every day he woke up knowing that there was no way that he 40 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:51,920 could ever pay off his debts, no way he could earn his freedom. 41 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:58,080 He was stuck in prison. But one day, the jailer came to 42 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:03,880 his cell with unexpected news. His debt had been forgiven. 43 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,320 He was free to go. The prisoner walked out of the 44 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,920 prison into the sunlight for the first time in a very long time, 45 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:18,120 and a wealth of the wealthy businessman met him and greeted 46 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:19,960 him at the the gate of the prison. 47 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,360 I'm the one who paid your debt, he says. 48 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,560 Come with me. I have a home prepared for you. 49 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,240 I have a job for you. I have a family that will 50 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:37,000 welcome you in. In an odd turn of events, the 51 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,200 man who had been freed from prison responded. 52 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,280 Thank you for paying my debt. But I think I'll go back and 53 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:51,200 live with the warden in prison and we see how crazy that would 54 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,400 be, right? That how ridiculous that is. 55 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,240 The one who paid the man's debt, the man who rescued him from 56 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,960 prison deserved the free man's loyalty. 57 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,440 The one who oversaw him in prison, the the warden, deserved 58 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:13,360 none of his loyalty. That's similar to what we have 59 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,279 in Deuteronomy chapter 5. And with the first commandment 60 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:18,760 and with all of the commandments, God's people had 61 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:23,720 been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, like prisoners locked 62 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,200 away in a culture of many false gods. 63 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,720 But the Lord rescued them. He, he redeemed them. 64 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,400 He freed them from their slavery, from their prison. 65 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,960 He led them out of Egypt. And after wandering in the 66 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,120 wilderness for 40 years, he, he led them to Sinai. 67 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,360 The people were about to enter the Promised Land, and the Lord 68 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:50,360 graciously and mercifully gave them His law, His instruction. 69 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,600 His instruction for how they were to think and to live. 70 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,120 What would cause them to thrive and to flourish? 71 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,440 What would enable them to bring glory to the Lord? 72 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,160 After hundreds of years living in the land of polytheism and 73 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,480 even participating in service to false gods, the Lord begins by 74 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,120 telling them You shall have no other gods before me. 75 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:22,520 Again and again, the people would choose to go back to their 76 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:28,800 old ways of living a life of slavery and imprisonment, not 77 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,480 loving and serving the one who redeemed them. 78 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:37,560 But what is absolutely critical for us to understand as we come 79 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,080 to this first commandment, as we look at all of the 10 80 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,640 commandments, what is absolutely critically important for us to 81 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,680 see and to remember is that the Lord doesn't call for worship 82 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,360 and allegiance from strangers in these commandments. 83 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,520 He called for worship and allegiance from a people that He 84 00:05:55,520 --> 00:06:01,000 had redeemed, people who had experienced that the grace and 85 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:06,200 the love of God that the first commandment is not simply obey 86 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:15,040 me, it is you are my people. I am your God, I love you, I 87 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:23,360 have redeemed you, you are mine. So worship and serve me alone. 88 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,000 And brothers and sisters in Christ, it's even easier for us 89 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,800 to understand this foundational truth because we have seen the 90 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,800 full extent of God's love and grace to his people and to us. 91 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,120 We know about Jesus. We know about the cross. 92 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,880 We know about his death and crucifixion. 93 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:48,600 We know about the resurrection. We know about the gospel the 94 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,080 Lord calls to us, his people, and he says to us, because I am 95 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,800 your God and you are my people, because I love you with a love 96 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,440 from before the foundation of the world, because you are mine 97 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:05,240 and I am yours. Worship me alone. 98 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:15,800 What is true about who God is and what He's done for us leads 99 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:21,040 to what we are to do. The indicative, what is true 100 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,280 leads to the imperative, what we are to do. 101 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:31,440 And it's never the opposite. This is the foundation of the 102 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:33,400 first commandment. This is the foundation of all 103 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,400 the 10 commandments, all of God's law. 104 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,000 Because we are the Lords, because of his great love with 105 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,680 which he has loved us, because the gospel is true, we are to 106 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:49,200 obey God's commandments. So with that clearly in our 107 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,600 minds, let's look at this first commandment and let's consider 108 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,080 several things. First of all, what is the basis 109 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:58,520 for the first commandment? And secondly, what is the extent 110 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:03,320 of the first commandment? Thirdly, what happens when it's 111 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,400 broken? And then lastly, what's the 112 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:11,560 solution to keeping it? So first of all, the basis of 113 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,720 the first commandment, the basis of the first commandment, and 114 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,280 really all of the commandments is nothing less than the 115 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:21,360 character of God, the very nature of who God is. 116 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,480 And notice we're told a number of things about God's character 117 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,040 in these verses leading up to and around the first 118 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:31,320 commandment, Verse 2, the Lord our God. 119 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,720 And in your Bibles you will see that the Lord is in all capital 120 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,600 letters. That's to let us know that 121 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,159 that's that powerful word, Yahweh. 122 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,600 This is the Lord God Almighty. This is the creator of the 123 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:46,560 universe. This is the ruler of the 124 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:49,640 universe. This is the one who sustains all 125 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:54,000 things by the word of His power. He is omnipotent. 126 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,040 He is sovereign, He is omniscient, He is omnipresent. 127 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,600 Listen to how the Westminster Confession of Faith describes 128 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:09,080 Yahweh in and of Himself. Infinite in being, glory, 129 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:14,280 blessedness and perfection, all sufficient, eternal, 130 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:20,160 unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, Almighty, 131 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:26,440 knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most 132 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:30,520 merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant, and 133 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,280 goodness and truth. Has all life and glory, 134 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:39,840 goodness, blessedness in and of Himself, and is alone in and 135 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,000 unto Himself all sufficient, not standing in need of any 136 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,160 creatures which He has made, nor desert deriving any glory from 137 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:53,680 them, but manifests His own glory in, by, unto, and on them. 138 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,560 He is the alone fountain of all Being, of Whom, through whom and 139 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,600 to whom are all things, and has most sovereign dominion over 140 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,960 them, to do by them, for them, or on them whatsoever Himself 141 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,480 pleases. In His sight all things are open 142 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,800 and manifest. His knowledge is infinite, 143 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,160 infallible, and independent of His creatures. 144 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,360 He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and 145 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,840 in all his commands. This is who Yahweh is. 146 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,280 He created us. He, He redeemed us. 147 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:33,600 He rightly owns us. He deserves our allegiance, our 148 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,600 service, and our worship. He has every right to set the 149 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,240 terms of our relationship with Him. 150 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:43,640 You are to have no other gods before me, He says. 151 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,320 He's not just the Lord God Yahweh. 152 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:53,000 He's also the Redeemer God. Notice in verse 6 the Lord, as 153 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,240 he's giving them this first commandment, He points his 154 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,320 people who are about to enter into the promised land back to 155 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:05,440 the exodus. He's reminding them how the Lord 156 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,280 redeemed his people. And we know it to an even 157 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,280 greater extent. How the Lord paid our debt that 158 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,640 we could never pay. How He purchased us with the 159 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,200 blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. 160 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:24,320 We belong to him. He deserves our love and 161 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,440 worship, our exclusive love and worship. 162 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,840 He's not only the Lord God and the Redeemer God, He's also the 163 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,640 jealous God. You can see that at the 164 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,920 beginning of verse 9. It's actually in the part 165 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,000 talking about the second commandment that we'll look at 166 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,640 next week, but it still points to the character of God. 167 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:51,120 He's a jealous God, not jealous like we get jealous. 168 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:57,840 His jealousy is never sinful, His is a holy jealousy. 169 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,360 This is the God who will not give away his glory to any 170 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,400 other. This is why we are not to have 171 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,520 any other gods before him. The Lord is jealous for His 172 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,360 honor and for his glory and His worship and he will always get 173 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:16,160 it. He is the Lord God. 174 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,600 He is the Redeemer God. He is a the jealous God. 175 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:20,880 He is also the covenant keeping God. 176 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,280 You can see that in verse 2 as he reminds the people of how 177 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,440 they had made a covenant with them. 178 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,040 God made a holy bond of union with his people. 179 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,360 He promised to be their God and for them to be his people. 180 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:39,640 A covenant that the Lord would never break or betray, even 181 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,040 though His people would all the time. 182 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,320 It wasn't other false gods that had made a covenant with these 183 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:49,640 people. No other false gods had made 184 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,320 promises to these people. It was only the one true God, 185 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:58,480 Yahweh, who is the covenant keeping God faithful in His 186 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,480 covenant keeping. And that leads to another 187 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,640 quality, character quality that we see here of God. 188 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,400 He is a personal God. Notice in verse 4, the Lord 189 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:12,960 speaks face to face with His people. 190 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,520 This is really what it means for the Lord to make a covenant with 191 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,960 His people. He he enters into a personal 192 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,760 relationship with His people. You will be my people and no one 193 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:30,040 else's, and I will be your God. And that relationship, that 194 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:35,000 personal relationship is even further explained and deepened 195 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:40,080 with the coming of the Lord Jesus, a Savior who knows each 196 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:47,360 of our names, who counts the hairs on our head, who has given 197 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:52,120 us the Holy Spirit to dwell in US and to be with us. 198 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,440 This is a personal God. This is the basis for the first 199 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,520 commandment. This is the basis for all of the 200 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,680 commandments that the very nature that the character of 201 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,200 God. But then notice that we're also 202 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,600 told something here about the extent of the commandment. 203 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:09,920 Verse 7 is the commandment itself. 204 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,240 You shall have no other gods before me, no other gods, he 205 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:17,840 says. Now this is not saying that 206 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:24,360 there are other gods, just that people back then, people today 207 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,880 believe that there are other gods, other gods to follow and 208 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,080 to love and to worship. We read in the Old Testament 209 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,560 about many of the different gods that were around Israel and 210 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,920 Egypt named gods. We read about the same or the 211 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:47,000 different gods of the nations around Israel that had names, 212 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,640 but they didn't actually exist. People just believed that they 213 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:57,200 were real and served these other fake and false gods. 214 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:05,240 The one true God, the Lord God Almighty Yahweh, says He alone 215 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,480 is to be served and worshipped. This is the extent of the 216 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:13,280 commandment. Now, before we to quickly 217 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:17,760 dismiss these people who believed in false gods in the 218 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:24,880 Old Testament era as naive, simplistic, what are the other 219 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,440 gods that we have in our culture today? 220 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,240 John Calvin famously said that the human heart is an idol 221 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:41,800 factory, that we can churn out idols all the time. 222 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,240 We can make gods out of our careers and vocations. 223 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:53,520 We can make gods out of success. We can make gods out of our 224 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,840 families, our children, our spouses. 225 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:08,240 We can make gods out of money and wealth, out of some skill or 226 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,200 ability that has been given to us. 227 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:16,200 We can make an false God out of our church, out of the 228 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:17,800 denomination that we're a part of. 229 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,760 What are the things that you are tempted to make a God in your 230 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:27,640 heart and in your life? Because the one true God says 231 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:32,160 that we are to have no other gods before him. 232 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,000 That's only part of the extent of this commandment. 233 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,840 He says we are not to have any false gods before him. 234 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,000 The the Hebrew word there has the sense of before the the face 235 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,320 of God, before the presence of the Lord. 236 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,600 We are to have no false gods, no other gods. 237 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:58,000 And think of this, there is no place where we are not before 238 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,920 the face of the Lord. There is no place you can go. 239 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,480 There is no distance you could get to, to be away from the 240 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,319 presence and the face of the Lord. 241 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:13,839 Remember the words of Psalm 139. The psalmist says, If I ascend 242 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:16,880 to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and shall, you 243 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:18,839 are there. If I take the wings of the 244 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,400 morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even 245 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,880 there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold 246 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,319 me, for you formed my inward parts. 247 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:30,280 You knitted me together in my mother's womb. 248 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,480 My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, 249 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,400 intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 250 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:43,240 There is no place where we are not before the face of the Lord. 251 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,080 So there's no part of our lives where we can have other gods 252 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,840 that we love and serve and worship and obey. 253 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:55,680 No part of our lives. Christianity is not a both and 254 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:57,920 religion. It is an either or religion. 255 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:04,160 You can't both serve the Lord and worship the Lord and also 256 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:08,160 serve and worship the false gods and idols in your heart. 257 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:15,040 Either you worship and serve Yahweh or you don't. 258 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,920 This is the extent of the first commandment. 259 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,240 As we think about the basis of this commandment, as we as we 260 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,520 think about the the character of God, the nature of God, as we 261 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,320 think about the extent of this commandment, as we feel the 262 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:34,920 weight of this high standard, as we think about how easy it is 263 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:41,160 for us to break the first commandment, maybe we wonder 264 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:42,840 what's the result of breaking it. 265 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,800 Well, we can see the result pretty clearly by looking at 266 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,680 just one example of when it was broken. 267 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:56,920 The life of Solomon, one of the greatest kings, one of the 268 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:02,240 greatest leaders of the ancient world, most powerful king that 269 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,160 Israel ever had. He owned thousands of horses and 270 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,720 Chariots. He crushed every enemy. 271 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,600 He greatly expanded the Kingdom during his rule. 272 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,760 He was wealthy beyond measure. He had palaces filled with gold 273 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:21,480 and riches. He possessed true spiritual, 274 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,920 godly wisdom. The Lord told Solomon to ask for 275 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:26,840 whatever he wanted, and what did he ask for? 276 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:31,640 He asked for wisdom. It shows that he had a heart 277 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,480 that genuinely was interested in in wanting to serve the Lord, a 278 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,280 heart that desired to have no other gods before the one true 279 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,160 God. The Lord gave Solomon great 280 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:47,440 wisdom and wealth and power. Solomon used all of it to build 281 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,400 the great and beautiful House of the Lord, the Temple. 282 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,800 Solomon was a man of prayer and the Lord greatly blessed him. 283 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:07,320 But the Lord told Solomon, walk in my ways, serve me alone, walk 284 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,960 with integrity of heart, and I will establish your throne 285 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,400 forever. Have no other gods before me, 286 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,600 and if you choose to serve other gods, Solomon, I will cut you 287 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:24,720 off and reject your reign. In other words, he told him to 288 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:31,360 obey the first commandment. Listen to these words from First 289 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:36,520 Kings Chapter 9. As soon as Solomon had finished 290 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,960 building the House of the Lord, and the King's house, and all 291 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,360 that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a 292 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:44,640 second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 293 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,280 And the Lord said to him, I have heard your prayer and your plea, 294 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,720 which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house 295 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,160 that you have built by putting my name there forever. 296 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,080 My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 297 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,680 And As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father 298 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:05,200 walked with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according 299 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,160 to all that I have commanded you in keeping my statutes and my 300 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,800 rules. And I will establish your royal 301 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,320 throne over Israel forever, as I promised David, your father 302 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,760 saying you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. 303 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,840 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your 304 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,840 children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes 305 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,800 that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and 306 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,800 worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I 307 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,920 have given them. And the house that I have 308 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,960 consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel 309 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:41,080 will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples, and 310 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,680 this house will become a heap of ruins. 311 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,760 Everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss. 312 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,680 And they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to the land and 313 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,160 to this house? Then they will say, Because they 314 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,960 abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of 315 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,960 the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped 316 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,800 them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought 317 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:13,880 all this disaster on them. With all of his wisdom, 318 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:19,120 God-given wisdom, with all of the blessing from the Lord, with 319 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:24,440 everything that was at stake, it's perplexing what happened. 320 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:32,880 Gradually, slowly over time, Solomon began serving false 321 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:39,920 gods, the God of wealth. He began to see his wealth as 322 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:43,320 his own, to do with whatever he wanted. 323 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:49,080 He built extremely opulent palaces for himself, buildings 324 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,960 in the Kingdom. He served the God of power. 325 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,480 The Lord commanded Solomon to keep the army small so that 326 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,080 Israel would know their dependence upon the Lord for 327 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,600 their victories. Solomon. 328 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:10,200 Solomon amassed an enormous, massive military power. 329 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,880 He served the God of sensuality and sex. 330 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,840 The Lord told Solomon to be faithful, not to intermarry with 331 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:23,240 the Pagan nations around them. Eventually, Solomon is recorded 332 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:29,840 to have had 700 wives, 300 concubines, many of them from 333 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,960 Pagan nations. And what was the result? 334 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,160 What was the result of breaking the first commandment? 335 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,280 The Lord took the Kingdom away from Solomon. 336 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,560 The Lord punished him, and the consequences impacted not just 337 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,840 Solomon. Even as the first King's passage 338 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,680 said, it impacted all of the people for generations of the 339 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,160 people, eventually leading to the splitting apart of Israel 340 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,240 into two kingdoms and the downward spiral of both kingdoms 341 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,240 that we saw throughout our study of Isaiah. 342 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,440 And the result for Solomon himself, it was notable. 343 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:19,720 He became a man who was filled with emptiness and despair and 344 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:24,920 even hatred for life. Listen to these words that 345 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:33,720 Solomon wrote. I said in my heart, Come now, I 346 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,440 will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. 347 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,600 But behold, this also was vanity. 348 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:43,000 I said of laughter, It is mad, and of pleasure. 349 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,320 What use is it? I searched with my heart how to 350 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,400 cheer my body with wine, my heart's still guiding me with 351 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,080 wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was 352 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,560 good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few 353 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,440 days of their life. I made great works. 354 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,760 I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 355 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:06,840 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of 356 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,760 fruit trees. I made myself pools from which 357 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,960 to water the forest of growing trees. 358 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,200 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in 359 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,600 my house. I had also great possessions of 360 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,440 herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in 361 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,080 Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself 362 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,640 silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. 363 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:30,960 I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the 364 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,120 delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed 365 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:38,000 all who were before me in Jerusalem. 366 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,280 Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired, I 367 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,760 did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no 368 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,440 pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and 369 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:55,720 this was my reward for my toil. Then I considered all that my 370 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,080 hands had done and the toil that I had expended in doing it. 371 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:06,200 And behold, all was a vanity and a striving after wind, and there 372 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,560 was nothing to be gained under the sun. 373 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:14,200 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous 374 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,560 to me. For all his vanity and striving 375 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,800 after the wind. I hated all my toil in which my 376 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,560 toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it 377 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,280 to the man who will come after me. 378 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,480 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which 379 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,320 he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of 380 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,760 sorrow, and his work is a vexation. 381 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:39,520 Even in the night his heart does not rest. 382 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:46,400 This also is vanity. Those are the words of a man who 383 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,120 was a breaker of the first commandment. 384 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:55,000 He had many other gods before the one true God. 385 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:04,400 And we look at someone like Solomon and all that he had, and 386 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:14,360 we wonder, how could he do it? How could he do it with what was 387 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:17,880 at stake, with having the wisdom of God? 388 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,760 How could he explicitly do what the Lord commanded him not to 389 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:27,640 do? But we know. 390 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,000 We know how Solomon could break the first commandment because 391 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:34,800 we're Breakers of the first commandment as well. 392 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,960 What is it that you love? Origin, the 3rd century 393 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,720 Christian scholar and theologian wrote. 394 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:48,280 What each one honours before all else, what before all things he 395 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,240 admires and loves, that for him is God. 396 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,320 What do you love? What do you admire before all 397 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,600 else? What do you desire above all 398 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,080 else? Who is the most important person 399 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:08,480 to you? Whatever it is, whoever it is, 400 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:14,920 that is your God. Or we could ask it this way. 401 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,320 And what do you place? Your greatest trust and hope, 402 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:27,560 Your health, your wealth, The government, your family, your 403 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:34,640 spouse being in control, Matthew Henry wrote. 404 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,880 Pride makes a God of self. Covetousness makes a God of 405 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,640 money. Sensuality makes a God of the 406 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,880 belly. Whatever is esteemed or loved, 407 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,840 feared or served, delighted in or depended on more than God, 408 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,400 whatever it may be, we in effect make a God. 409 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,200 In what do you place your greatest trust and hope and 410 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:03,680 love? If we're honest, we acknowledge 411 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:05,800 we break the first commandment all the time. 412 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,040 So we have to find out what's the solution for keeping it 413 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,960 Well, Paul gave us part of the solution in the passage that we 414 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,040 read earlier in the in the service in First Corinthians 415 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,200 chapter 10. What did he say? 416 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,760 Flee from idolatry? He said flee from idols, flee 417 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,680 from false gods. Now, if you think about what 418 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,720 that truly means, it doesn't necessarily mean that we get rid 419 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,720 of whatever we're making an idol of, whatever we're making a God 420 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:40,520 of. It might not be possible if it's 421 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:46,120 our vocation or it's a spouse or a child, but at the very least, 422 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:52,040 what it means to flee from idols, it means to stop making 423 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,320 whatever it is or whoever it is a God for us. 424 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,760 Flee from making it an idol in our lives and in our heart. 425 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:05,360 Leaning, leaning against and rooting out that which we make 426 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,080 an idol or God in our heart. That involves honestly 427 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:18,680 acknowledging it, owning it, confessing it, repenting of it, 428 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,400 turning away from the false God, and rooting it out of our lives. 429 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,360 But here's the problem, brothers and sisters in Christ, when we 430 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:31,360 root out and weed out an idol or a false God, unless we replace 431 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,240 it with something, all we've done is created a whole that our 432 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:36,920 heart will fill with another idol. 433 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:45,160 What we need, and this is the second part of the solution, is 434 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:50,640 we need an expulsive power of a new of a better affection, a 435 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,840 greater love. That's actually the title of a 436 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,640 sermon by Thomas Chalmers, the 18th and 19th century Scottish 437 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,120 pastor. The Expulsive power of a new 438 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:05,320 affection. Chalmers contended that the only 439 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,640 way to truly remove a false God or idol from our lives is to 440 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,680 have to replace it with a different love, with a greater 441 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:20,400 love, with the expulsive power of a better affection, Chalmers 442 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,640 said. This, This we trust, will 443 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,960 explain the operation of that charm which accompanies the 444 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,760 effectual preaching of the Gospel. 445 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:32,320 The love of God and the love of the world are two affections, 446 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,880 not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of 447 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,040 enmity, and that's so irreconcilable that they cannot 448 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:41,720 dwell together in the same bosom. 449 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,320 We've already affirmed how impossible it is for the heart, 450 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,920 by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from 451 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,960 it, and thus reduce itself to a wilderness. 452 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:57,720 The heart is not so constituted. The only way to dispossess 453 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,400 dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive 454 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:06,800 power of a new one. So what is the new, the better 455 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,760 the ultimate affection that has this expulsive power to replace 456 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,640 our false gods and our false idols. 457 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,240 John tells us in first John chapter 4. 458 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,360 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent 459 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,880 his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 460 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,720 And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he 461 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:38,760 loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 462 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:44,280 John gives us the greater love that has this expulsive power, 463 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,560 God's love for us that is demonstrated in the Gospel. 464 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,160 We so often fail to love the Lord more than the false gods 465 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:58,160 and false idols in our lives. And yet we are told that God 466 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:03,120 loves us and sent Jesus, his only Son, who perfectly kept the 467 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:08,880 first commandment, never serving or worshipping or obeying false 468 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:14,360 gods or idols, and then giving his life, dying for us, paying 469 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,760 the debt that we had because of our sin, because of our breaking 470 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,840 of the first commandment. Jesus paid that debt. 471 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,400 He paid the ransom. He paid the penalty. 472 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,440 He received the judgement and the wrath of God, because the 473 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:37,280 Lord God Almighty loves you. And it is an everlasting love. 474 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,400 Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the expulsive power of a 475 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:49,440 greater, the greatest love. And the more that God's love for 476 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,880 us and the extent of his grace for us works deeply into our 477 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,760 hearts and our minds, the more we will be motivated and 478 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:03,600 empowered to persevere. And having no other gods before 479 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:08,679 the one true God, the God with whom you are in covenant with, 480 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:14,960 the God with whom you are in a personal relationship with, the 481 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,679 God who has redeemed you and who has loved you with an 482 00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:21,840 everlasting love. Let's pray together.