The First Command 10-26-08
Who is Your God?
Exodus 20:1-3
October 26th, 2008
Introduction:
· The Ten commandments
· Written to those who were coming out of the Egypt.
· They would have been familiar with many different gods.
o Each one of the ten plagues dealt specifically with a so called god that was part of the Egyptian pantheon. (Ra, Atan)
· God is giving His people a prescription on how to live with Him.
I) I am the LORD your God (v.1-2a)
A) Timeless Truth- God spoke these words
1) These words were spoken by God, they carry with them authority.
(a) We struggle with authority- we don’t want to be told what to do, think, or say. (2 Tim. 3:16)
(b) We struggle with the fact that our culture has changed dramatically from when these words were given. (Have the times changed?)
(i) The truth found in the Ten Commandments is timeless.
B) I am the LORD your God.
1) When God makes this statement He is saying that He alone is God. (Is. 43:11,44:6, 45:5, Acts 4:12)
(a) Pantheism – says that God is in everything
(b) Polytheism – says that there are thousands of gods
(c) Deism – says that there is a god but he does not care about the world that he created, nor does he have a plan and a purpose for this world.
(d) New age – says that you are god and you need to discover this fact about yourself.
(i) New thoughts are really old lies- Garden of Eden-
(e) What God is you will become- (encyclopedia of Mormonism vol. 2) Logically and naturally, the ultimate desire of a loving Supreme Being is to help his children enjoy all that he enjoys. For Latter-day Saints, the term "godhood" denotes the attainment of such a state—one of having all divine attributes and doing as God does and being as God is. Such a state is to be enjoyed by all exalted, embodied, intelligent beings (see Deification; Eternal Progression; Exaltation; God; Perfection). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all resurrected and perfected mortals become gods (cf. Gen. 3:22; Matt. 5:48). They will dwell again with God the Father, and live and act like him in endless worlds of happiness, power, love, glory, and knowledge; above all, they will have the power of procreating endless lives. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ attained godhood (see Christology) and that he marked the path and led the way for others likewise to become exalted divine beings by following him (cf. John 14:3).
(f) Are there many paths to God?
(i) Oprah Winfrey- In USA today she is referred to by some as America’s pastor, the new Billy Graham she said that one of the most influential books she has read is Eric Butterworths “Discover the power within you” in which she says “Jesus did not come to teach us how divine He was, He came to teach us that divinity was within us. If Jesus claimed exclusive divinity He would have been one of the biggest egotists around. One of the biggest mistakes that humans make is to assume there is only one way to God.
· I Am seven times in the book of John alone.
· (John 14:6)- I am the way the truth and the life
II) Who brought you out of Egypt (v. 2b)
A) Christianity is the only religion in which God came to men and not the other way around.
1) God sought out His people, He came to them, He brought them out with His mighty hand. (Jer. 32:21)
B) God alone had the power to free His people; Jesus comes not only to free us from human bondage but from the bondage of sin.
1) God proved Himself over and over again as He showed Himself more powerful than the so called gods of Egypt.
2) Jesus as well showed that He had the power over; sin, sickness, demons, nature, and death.
C) God proved His love for His people by bringing them out of Egypt, God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)
III) You shall have no other gods before Me (v. 3)
A) We all worship something. (2 Tim. 3:1-4)
1) Lovers of themselves- how we look, how we feel, how
2) Lovers of money
3) Lovers of pleasure
B) Sometimes something that is good can become a god in our lives.
1) Our children or our families.
2) Our desire to do a good job.
C) Sometimes there are gods in our lives that bring nothing but pain and misery.
1) Addictions
2) Fears
3) Past hurts
D) How do things become god’s?