And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:1-3, ESV)

 

 

I. Those who obey the first commandment to have no other gods are members of God’s covenant people.

 

Exposition With Application

I. In the opening verses of the Decalogue, LORD (all caps) translates the covenant name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush: I AM. God is the self-existent One.

When you see LORD in all caps, you should always think: infinite, eternal, unchangeable.

II. The LORD is our God: He is our source of moral authority.

III. He is also our Savior. He led Israel out of slavery in Egypt. He delivered us from slavery to sin. Therefore, our relationship to God is of grace. He did not save us because we deserved it. It was all of grace.

IV. The law is given to the people of grace to set forth the privileges and the blessings of the covenant of grace. The glorious liberty of God’s people is that sin shall have no dominion over us. We are free to live pleasing unto God according to His commandments.

V. The first commandment sets forth the response of grace alive in a believer’s heart: serve no other god but our Lord and Savior. This is why Jesus called it the first and greatest commandment. Matt. 22:37

VI. The phrase, before Me, does not occur in the other commandments. In the first commandment, we are reminded that God is everywhere and that God knows everything. Every sin that men think they have concealed is really done right before God’s face.

Application

I. How do we make the LORD to be our God and have no other gods before Him?

1. We must know God, which means we must know the Scriptures.
2. We must live in reverential fear of God. As our Maker, He has the right and the power to do with us as He chooses.
3. We must worship God. In public, worship must be in accordance with His Word. In private, every aspect of our lives must be an expression of worship: trusting in God and being thankful to God.

II. What does the First Commandment forbid?

1. Atheism: to live as if there is no God.
2. Pantheism: to worship nature.
3. Idolatry: to worship the gods of man’s imagination, including wealth, lust or power.

III. The most comprehensive word the Bible uses to describe breaking the first commandment is ungodly. Ungodliness is the thought in the heart of fallen man that he can live independently of God; that worshiping God is something optional.

IV. Those who live in obedience to the first and greatest commandment are God’s covenant people. The first step in that obedience is to believe in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.