Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
This week there was a report of a large religious organization in the U.S. caught in fraud. There are many large religious organizations that are in it for the money. There are many that are spiritual frauds. These false religious groups are trying to drag the name of the true God through the mud. They may believe they are doing a good work, but they are deceived.
The world looks at anything that calls itself Christianity as being the same. Part of the reason the world looks at Christianity that way is because too many weak Christians chose to be quiet when the ecumenical movement and then the New Evangelical movement developed their lies. There were people like myself who was ignorant of the roots of New Evangelicalism. I did not know of any option until I was in my late 30’s.
Part of my problem was that I did not take the Word of God seriously enough. I was raised with the false doctrine that God’s Word is not absolute. The common teaching then and now is that God’s Word is just a book of suggestions and there is room for many different interpretations.
God’s Word is absolute. It always has been. It is when saved people submit to this absolute Word, that we can know the peace and blessing of the Lord. It is then that we can be accused of the same thing that the first century Christians were accused of:
Acts 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Our world needs to be turned upside down today. When the few who are truly born again, submit to the God Who saved them, God can and does do amazing things. It is true that we are living in a different time than Moses did. We are also living in a different time than the apostles did. However, God is still the same. He is still not willing that any should perish. Those who are saved need to pray for boldness.
In our text, God is about to lay out the basis of faith for all people. The Ten Commandments were given to the nation of Israel, but nine of them apply to all people, Jews or Gentiles. The Ten Commandments are not the way of salvation. The Bible is clear that no one can be saved by law keeping. The Ten Commandments tell us what God demands of all of humanity. The nation of Israel was often referred to as “the children of Israel”. Israel was to live in a way that demonstrated their dependence upon God.
In verse 2 the LORD reminded Moses that He is “the LORD thy God”. You notice there that He declared “I am the LORD thy God”. This God is the ever present God. He brought them out of the land of Egypt. It was important for the children of Israel to be reminded that they had nothing to do with being delivered from bondage. All that Israel was required to do was to obey God’s commandments regarding the Passover. God did the work of deliverance. He parted the Red Sea for them. He drowned Pharaoh and his army in that Sea. It was God that gave them water from the rock and manna and meat in abundance.
In verse 3 Israel needed to understand they could have no other gods before the LORD. They had come out of the land of Egypt where they witnessed many false gods. In the minds of many of them, they were still leaning toward accepting the false gods of Egypt even though they had witnessed the utter destruction of Egypt at the hand of God.
Mankind today would still be wise to understand there is only one true God. We had a service this week in a Catholic seniors’ home. The Lord has given us an open door to hold services there twice a month. Ours is not an ecumenical service. We are not working in cooperation with the Catholics. We hold a true Bible-based service and we are not ashamed of speaking the truth. Our latest service dealt with John 14:1-6. That passage clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Saviour. I made it very clear to those who attended our service that this is the fact. There was at least one staff member sitting outside our service area who was listening as well.
People need to be told the truth. The truth is what sets the captive free. The LORD continued to deal with the foundation in our text. Not only were they not to have any other gods before Him, but they were not to make any graven image or any likeness of God or anything else that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath. The Catholics and many others love to have pictures of Jesus Christ. No one alive today knows what Jesus looks like. We have a description of Him in Revelation chapter 1. However, we do not need an artist to try to draw what is written there. We do not need, nor should we have any graven image of God or anything He has made. We do not worship creation, we are to worship God. We worship God in spirit and in truth.
We are not to bow down to any graven image. We do not follow astrology. We do not worship the stars, or the sun or the moon. The Babylonian religion, which is the basis of Catholicism and Islam, worships the sun, moon and the stars.
The LORD warned of the dire consequences of ignoring or rejecting this commandment of His. He would not hold the person guiltless that would worship creation rather than the Creator. God has every right to be jealous. He knows He is the only true God. He had done so much for Israel at this time, and He does not share His glory with another. He would judge those who would disregard Him.
We see here that when a father chooses false religion, his children will often follow his footsteps. Generally we see that it takes several generations of this darkness, before someone listens to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and is saved. God knows this is the nature of lost humanity. Genesis 4 shows us several generations of Cain’s and how they all followed his wicked ways. Genesis 5 shows us how there were some who were of the lineage of Seth and they chose to follow the truth. Enoch was one of them.
Hatred for God does not need to be expressed in word only. Rejecting the true God is the same as hating Him. New Evangelicalism is built upon a hatred for God. You cannot claim to love God and pursue false religion.
The same God Who warned those who would hate Him, also promised mercy to those who love Him. A person demonstrates his love for God by keeping His commandments. Keeping God’s commandments is the evidence of loving Him.
Fifty two years ago I told my wife that I loved her. I am still with my wife today because I love her. I am demonstrating my love for her by being faithful to her. My relationship with my wife is dearer to me today than it was in the past. I have learned many things about loving my wife and what that means. If I tell my wife that I love her, I need to demonstrate that in real life and in real time. If I do not do that, she has every right to doubt my love for her.
The only way I can love God as He requires is if I am saved. When a person gets saved, God puts His love inside that person. We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19). No one can honestly say they have always loved God. True love is evidenced by right actions.
The nation of Israel has struggled with loving God even in the time of Moses. A few of them loved God, but the majority then did not and the majority today still do not love Him. The same can be said for the Gentile nations. A few Gentiles love God, but the majority do not even know Him. That would include the majority of those who claim to be saved. Jesus warned of this in Matthew 7.
It is important to know the true God. The only way to know Him is through His Word. Visions and dreams will not work. You must trust in the God Who reveals Himself through His Word.
Pastor Bartel
