Exodus 20:1-3
20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before1 me.
[1] 20:3
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Exodus chapter 20. It's also there in your worship guide. Exodus chapter 20. We begin a new series this morning on the 10 commandments. We're gonna be looking at a different commandment each week.
Joel Brooks:And so that's gonna take us 10 weeks, all the way through August 2nd, and then Or actually, all the way through August 9th, then August 16th. We will continue our study in Romans. Now one of the things that I found, there's there's pretty much one thing that, no matter who you ask, they know about the 10 commandments. And it might be the only thing they know about it. And that's that there's 10 of them.
Joel Brooks:Outside that, I I have not met many people who know much about the 10 Commandments outside of the church. People know there are 10, but they don't actually know what they are. I recently read that people can recite more people can recite these 6 ingredients in a Big Mac than they can 6 of the commandments. So I just wanna see if that's true. So we have 2 2 beef patties, 2 all beef patties.
Joel Brooks:What's next? Lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed. I mean, very good. Alright, you guys, you know all those. Should I should I see who knows the first six commandments?
Joel Brooks:So that one was a little understandable because, you know, there's a fun jingle and everything to that. I couldn't believe this next one. Yeah. The a different survey showed that more people can actually name the family members of The Brady Bunch then they can name the Ten Commandments. So, do you guys know the members of the Brady Bunch?
Joel Brooks:Marsha? Everybody knows Marsha. I mean, Cindy. More. Peter.
Joel Brooks:Peter. Greg. I mean, you're naming them. What what was the what was the house cleaner's name, anybody? You guys disgust me.
Joel Brooks:Like like that somewhere in your brain, there's all that trivial knowledge that you guys know, but that's standard. I mean, but the sad thing is most of you weren't even born when The Brady Bunch was around, and yet somehow you still can name the family members. Well, I'm gonna make sure you know the 10 Commandments a lot better, than the members of The Brady Bunch. And so what we're gonna be doing for the next 10 weeks, at the start of every sermon, we're actually going to recite all Ten Commandments together. So we really each week, we're gonna be pounding these things in our hearts and in our brains.
Joel Brooks:And so if we would go ahead and put those up, and if you would recite these 10 commandments with me. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make any graven images. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Joel Brooks:Honor your father and mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Joel Brooks:You shall not covet. You will find these Ten Commandments in 2 places in scripture. We have Exodus 20 and we have Deuteronomy 5. Exodus 20, this is when the law was first given. It's when the Israelites were at Mount Sinai.
Joel Brooks:Deuteronomy 5 is when Moses reminds them of this law before they enter the promised land. And we are mostly gonna be looking at it from Exodus chapter 20. And so that's where I invite you to turn your attention. We're gonna look at the first three verses. 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.
Joel Brooks:You shall have no other gods before me. Pray with me. Father, we pray that through your spirit, you would teach us from your word, that you would transform us to look more like your son, Jesus. Lord, I pray that over the next 10 weeks, our hearts would be changed. We would learn how we are to live, how we are to be fully human, how we can live lives that are pleasing to you.
Joel Brooks:I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Okay.
Joel Brooks:So we are in Alabama. We're kind of in the buckle of the Bible Belt. So I feel like I can't begin a series on the 10 Commandments without mentioning Judge Roy Moore. I mean, you kinda gotta go to Judge Roy Moore. If you remember back in 2,001, he had a 2 and a half ton granite monument, of the 10 Commandments placed within the state judicial building.
Joel Brooks:It's it's not that it was a that big of a deal putting the Ten Commandments there. There was actually already the Ten Commandments in that building. It was just on a small little wooden plaque. It just wasn't a 2 and a half ton granite monument put in the dead middle of this building. And along with the Ten Commandments being on that monument, there was also, there was some quotations from the Declaration of Independence, parts of our national anthem, quotations from some of our founding fathers.
Joel Brooks:And it was all kind of fused together into one monument there. Which if you remember, it caused a enormous controversy. Also a federal lawsuit. Ultimately, it cost Judge Roy Moore his job. After being in the courts for over 3 years, finally, this monument was removed three and a half years later.
Joel Brooks:And this event, it didn't just make our local news, it made national news. And not just that, it was known all throughout the world. When I was, began studying really for the 10 Commandments about a month ago, I started listening to different lectures. The last three lectures I listened to, one was from Scotland, one was from England, and one was from Australia. All three of them began with this.
Joel Brooks:So there's a place in the United States called Alabama. And they talk about what happened with Judge Roy Moore. And so it's a good place to start. I mean, they asked this question. They said, what was he thinking?
Joel Brooks:What was he thinking in doing this? What was he hoping to accomplish? I guess another way that I would phrase that question is, what do you believe the purpose of the 10 Commandments is? Can can you just plop the 10 Commandments in in the middle of a courthouse and expect that they are obeyed? Should they be obeyed?
Joel Brooks:Can they just exist? You know, stand alone? Or can they only be understood in relation to something? Not that the truth is relative, but actually, you can't understand the 10 Commandments alone. They can only be understood perhaps in relation to the Bible or in relation to God's covenant with His people.
Joel Brooks:Can they be applied alone? Or do they have to be applied in that context? Can it be applied to all people? What should America do? It's a pluralistic society.
Joel Brooks:But should we force the 10 Commandments on them? And then there's more questions. You know, sitting there in their courthouse, you can't miss it. So what happens if you break one of the commandments? I mean, what what happens?
Joel Brooks:I mean, is is there a penalty for breaking them? How many of you here have broken the Sabbath? Have not kept the Sabbath? Alright. The rest of you are liars.
Joel Brooks:But I think everybody raised their hand. And by like not keeping the Sabbath, I'm not talking about going to the lake on a Sunday, or you know, mowing your lawn on a Sunday, because Sunday has nothing to do with it. The Sabbath is on a Saturday. So if you've done any of those things on a Saturday, you've technically broken the Sabbath. Do you know what the penalty is for breaking the Sabbath?
Joel Brooks:Death. That's the penalty in the in the Old Testament. So should we enforce the death penalty now for everyone who breaks the Sabbath? You wanna say yes to that one? Or what about some of the other laws that are there?
Joel Brooks:What about adultery? Should we penalize people who commit adultery? Some of you are like, yes. Well, the penalty there is also death. What about coveting?
Joel Brooks:How can you even know who's coveting, yet alone enforce a penalty if somebody is found out to be coveting. So so how exactly could you enforce these 10 commandments if you even tried? Now most people I found don't even think about these questions. Actually, a lot of times the people who are most adamant about putting the Ten Commandments in public places, they don't think about those questions. Usually they can't even name all Ten Commandments.
Joel Brooks:But for them, the Ten Commandments, they're not of a practical importance, but they've become 10 commandments this way. But I want you to know that the church has never seen the 10 Commandments this way. Historically, the church has never viewed them as just having symbolic importance. We believe that the 10 Commandments have a lot to say about how we should live. They teach us who God is.
Joel Brooks:They teach us who we are. They teach us what we should be doing. And over the next 10 weeks, I hope we come to see this and be transformed by it. So I want to begin by asking a couple of questions. First is this, why are these Ten Commandments so special?
Joel Brooks:Or I guess I could even ask, are they? Are they truly special? And then I want to ask, why 10 Commandments? Why not 2? Why not 10,000?
Joel Brooks:Why why these 10 here? After all, there are 613 different laws in the first five books of the Old Testament that we know as the Pentateuch. 613. Are these special? Why should these stand apart?
Joel Brooks:So first, let's answer the question, why are these Ten Commandments so special? Are they different than the other 603 laws out there in the first five books? And I would say, yes. These Ten Commandments, they do have a prominent position within our bibles. And you can see that just by the build up of God giving these commandments.
Joel Brooks:There's an enormous build up to when God gives these. He frees the Israelites from slavery. He marches them through the Red Sea. He takes them to Mount Sinai, leading by a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. And then, on the Mount Sinai, there's earthquakes, there's lightning, there's fire, there's smoke, there's people covering their ears in fear, Saying, we don't wanna hear God talk to us anymore.
Joel Brooks:Moses, you intercede for us now. And then Moses goes and he gives them this law. I mean, it's a huge build up to these Ten Commandments. And then, God actually writes them down on stone. They're literally written on stone And we read, by the finger of God Himself.
Joel Brooks:Moses didn't chisel these initial commandments. They were written by God. And so, we certainly see that they are unique. None of the other commandments have such a build up like this. These stand out apart from the other 603.
Joel Brooks:So next question. Why these 10? What's so special about them? Why not 2? Why not 15?
Joel Brooks:Why not 15,000 commandments? Can I just say, I don't have a great answer? I've I've been searching for a lot of answers out there and I have not found a great answer. I can only give you my best guess as to why we have 10. And my best guess is this, when God decided to write down His law, using words, then he had to take on all of the limitations of using words, of putting things in writing.
Joel Brooks:Meaning that if he wrote too little, we would all be left with all of these questions. But then if he wrote too much, well then none of us could ever remember them. He's trying to strike the right balance between actually saying something of substance, but also something we will remember. So, God, He could've just given us 2 commandments. He could have said, you need to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.
Joel Brooks:And you need to love your neighbor as yourself. Those could have been the 2 Commandments. And indeed, Jesus later, he would say that those were the 2 most important commandments. And that the entire law could be summed up in just those 2 commandments. That we are to love God and we are to love our neighbor.
Joel Brooks:So why didn't God just write down those 2 for us? Well, what would you have done if you just read those 2? Naturally, a question would have come up. Questions such as, okay, but how? How are we to love God with all of our heart, soul, soul, and strength?
Joel Brooks:And and how are we to love our neighbor as ourself? So then, God answers that question with 10 commandments. This is how. This is this is how you can love God. Well, you can worship Him only.
Joel Brooks:You cannot make any idols. You cannot take his name in vain. You can set aside the day, the Sabbath, to honor him. How can we love our neighbor? Well, you could start off by not killing them.
Joel Brooks:Don't steal from them. Either their possessions or steal a spouse. Don't lie to them. Don't covet what they have. And so the 10 Commandments begin to flesh these things out, explaining how we are to love God and how we are to love our neighbor.
Joel Brooks:And most scholars, they think that's why we actually have 2 tablets. The first tablet is about loving God. The second tablet is about loving our neighbor. So that's why I think it was not just 2, but we get to 10. But now the question is, well, why didn't he give more?
Joel Brooks:Why didn't he flush it out even more? And I guess the question there is, well, when would he have stopped? When should God have stopped giving out these commandments? Do you know how many laws we have in America? Somebody take a guess.
Joel Brooks:How many laws we have? 10,000. Oh, you wish. It's a rhetorical question because no one knows. No one knows.
Joel Brooks:The government does not know. So we have 20,000 laws just on gun ownership alone. 20,000 laws on gun ownership. In 2010, it was estimated that we wrote 40,000 new laws through different levels of the government. That was just in 1 year.
Joel Brooks:In 2,008, Congress actually wanted to know, how many laws are there? So they set aside a commission for it to see how many laws there were. In this commission, they went forth and they did 5 years of research, and they came back and reported to Congress. And the report was, we have no idea. We lack the resources.
Joel Brooks:We lack the money and the manpower to ever figure out how many laws the US has. And we're supposed to be, you know, the country that's most free, with the least laws out there limiting our freedoms. So what should God have done? I mean, He could've given us 10,000 commandments to get us started. I mean, but poor Moses, can you imagine him trying to carry those things around like written in stone?
Joel Brooks:How do you how do you do that? And then, you know, just imagine yourself at VBS, Vacation Bible School, growing up and they try to make you memorize these things. I mean, no chance. You you couldn't, you know, you couldn't read the 10,000 let alone, remember them. These 10, however, they get you on the right track.
Joel Brooks:They point you in the right direction. And I think that's perhaps the best way to think about the 10 Commandments. Is they get us on the right track. So when you think about the 10 Commandments, do not think of them so much as like a bunch of rules, regulations, trying to restrain you. Think of them more as traffic laws.
Joel Brooks:They're designed to keep everyone moving in the right direction. To take somebody some place, safely. Actually, the word that we use for law is the word Torah. And Torah certainly means law. It can also mean commandment, but it's more than that.
Joel Brooks:The the Torah has this idea of instruction, as well. It's not just a commandment. It's it's this idea of instruction. Think of a a parent giving instructions to their child. Like like a like me giving instructions to my daughter, Natalie, now who's learning how to drive.
Joel Brooks:I'm teaching her how to drive. I've already taught 1 how to drive, and now it's you know, I'm I'm trying to teach Natalie how to drive. And and when I come alongside and I teach her how to drive, I have to teach her things like, okay. When you see that sign, it means stop. Okay.
Joel Brooks:When when when you are emerging here, you need to yield and let them come in. You need to not go faster than the speed limit here. I teach her all of this, the laws that are out there. But the goal is to keep her safe and to keep other people safe, so that we all could get to where we need to be. And I think the Ten Commandments, the law is like this.
Joel Brooks:It is instruction. It's keeping us safe. It's keeping us moving where we are supposed to be. And just think where we would be if everyone kept these laws. If everyone was on the right track.
Joel Brooks:There would be no more killing, no more violence, No more abortions. No more crime. No more stealing. No more pornography. No more broken marriages.
Joel Brooks:No more deception or false advertising. No more of always wanting more. There will be no longer any parents wondering who's going to take care of them in their old age. I mean, it would be amazing. Not just individually would it be amazing if you kept this, but think of an entire society, think of the entire world if they all kept these 10 commandments.
Joel Brooks:Humanity would flourish. That's what God is setting forth before us. You wanna know how mankind can flourish? How they could get to where I want them to be? To do what I want them to do, well, they keep these laws.
Joel Brooks:They're not restrictive. They give us a freedom and they help us to flourish. But they still, even after these 10, we still have questions, don't we? They don't answer everything. For instance, we know thou shalt not murder.
Joel Brooks:Everybody knows that. And the word for murder, we'll look at it in a few weeks. The word for murder is actually unsanctioned killing. You're not allowed to do any unsanctioned killing. So apparently, you are allowed to kill if it's sanctioned.
Joel Brooks:But that raises all these questions. Like, who is allowed to sanction it? Does the government sanction it? Do we just put a small group of people to sanction it? Who gets to sanction the killing?
Joel Brooks:And what about war? Is war allowed? What about self defense? Is self defense allowed? That's not addressed in the 10 commandments there.
Joel Brooks:And so to get answers to these questions, you actually have to turn to the rest of the Bible. And so we have the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, and beginning immediately in Exodus 21, those things are flushed out in what, what we would call case law. So we have the law and then we have case law, which basically applies the 10 commandments through all different circumstances that we might be confused about. And so we find this, for instance, about murder. Is it murder?
Joel Brooks:Trivia. Is it murder if someone is breaking into your house and you shoot and kill them? Is that murder? Anyone? Won't be so bold?
Joel Brooks:100 of people just put it out there. Well, yes or no. If it's nighttime, it is not murder. If it's daytime, it is murder according to Exodus 22. Now we're not exactly given why, what the reasons are for whether you can kill somebody at nighttime if they're breaking in their home, but in the daytime you can't.
Joel Brooks:It's probably being with the ability to be able to recognize somebody or not. But the Bible lays out that certain case. Alright. What about this one? We all know that we are to observe the Sabbath.
Joel Brooks:We are to keep it holy. We're not supposed to work on the Sabbath day. So what if your neighbor has an ox that falls into a ditch on the Sabbath? Are you allowed to help them out or not? Who says we should help them?
Joel Brooks:Y'all like, man, you're not Nobody's gonna Nobody's putting a Yes. You can help them. Case law tells us that we're allowed to help our neighbor if on the Sabbath I wouldn't have guessed that one. I would have actually thought the opposite. Because I would have thought loving God, like keeping the Sabbath holy, would have been more important than like, loving your neighbor and helping them out.
Joel Brooks:And granted it it's it's kind of a confusing thing, which is why the Bible gives that scenario. It says, let me help you apply what it means to observe the Sabbath. What it means to love your neighbor and it gives us that case law. Alright. So what if it's not an ox?
Joel Brooks:What if it's a dog that falls into a ditch? What are you supposed to do then? Falls into a ditch on the Sabbath. Do you help your neighbor or not? Or what if it's a cat?
Joel Brooks:Do you just get a shovel? Just end it there? Like, What are you supposed to do in these scenarios? The Bible doesn't tell us those. It doesn't it doesn't tell us.
Joel Brooks:Or or what if it's somebody's car breaks down. You're going to church and you see a friend of yours, their car is burned, they've blown a tire. Do you help them change that or not? It's the Sabbath. Bible doesn't tell us.
Joel Brooks:It doesn't answer every one of those questions. And that's where I think we go back to the law of love, loving God and loving our neighbor. So we have those, the law of loving God and loving our neighbor, how is that fleshed out when we see these Ten Commandments? Well, what about all of these crazy whatever scenarios? Well, we have all of this case law underneath it to help us apply that?
Joel Brooks:If the case law's not represented and there's some other areas we're just not sure about, I think we go back into that law of love. And I do think that we are equipped better than the Israelites are on this, to figure things out. Because we have advantages that they did not have. 1st and foremost, the greatest advantage that we have is we know Jesus. We know Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Which is of enormous importance. It's an enormous advantage to know Jesus because Jesus personified the law. God did not have to limit his words when he sent forth his son. He perfectly embodied all of the law in a person. And so God did not have to set any limitations when he set forth Jesus.
Joel Brooks:The word became flesh And we could see how the 10 commandments were to be lived out. So if you wanna know how to love God, look at Jesus. You wanna know how to love your neighbor, You look at Jesus. Do you want to know how to honor your father and mother? You look at Jesus.
Joel Brooks:You want to know how to not murder and to to give and support and support life? Well, you look at Jesus. He is the embodiment of the 10 Commandments. So we've been given this enormous tool, this privilege that we have in getting to look at Jesus. We also have his teachings, which is another advantage.
Joel Brooks:Jesus taught on the Ten Commandments. We looked at this 2 summers ago when we went through the Sermon on the Mount, but Jesus went up on a mountain like Moses, and He presented forth His law. And a lot of what he said was him fleshing out the 10 Commandments. You have heard it said that you should not commit adultery. But I say unto you that any man who looks at a woman with lustful intent has committed adultery in his heart.
Joel Brooks:That is Jesus expounding on what it means to commit adultery. And he's saying, it's not just the physical act there. The seed form of it, which is lust is also wrong. Because that seed will grow into that full tree of adultery. And so, we have Jesus' own instruction fleshing out the Ten Commandments.
Joel Brooks:And then, the final advantage we have is, we have the Holy Spirit guiding us and empowering us to live these commandments out. Okay. So let's actually look at the first of these commandments. We're not gonna get through all of the first commandment because I had to do a longer introduction. We'll we'll finish it up next week.
Joel Brooks:But let me read again Exodus 20 verses 1 through 3. 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. Now verse 2 lays the foundation for all of the commandments that follow. This I am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Joel Brooks:That that's the lens, you will, that you need to put on, the glasses you need to put on to understand the rest of these commandments. God begins by saying, I am Yahweh your God. Whenever you have the word Lord, the name Lord there in all capitals, which is what you have in your bible, That is God's personal name, Yahweh. Which means, I am or I am who I am or I will be who I will be. Or you could just translate it I am.
Joel Brooks:So listen how God begins His commandments. I am the I am. It's the starting statement. I am the I am your God. So right off the bat, you see that there's a relationship here.
Joel Brooks:God doesn't just say, I am God. I am Yahweh, God. He goes, I am Yahweh, your God. This is a God who has a relationship with His people. He's their God.
Joel Brooks:He is our God. And he gives the reason why he is our God. It's because he has delivered us from slavery. He delivered the Israelites from slavery. He has delivered us from a slavery to sin.
Joel Brooks:The Israelites, they did not free themselves. They were in a situation in which they could not buy their way out, think their way out, work their way out. They were completely stuck in slavery. But God and His grace and His mighty strength pulled them out of that. And He became their god.
Joel Brooks:In other words, Yahweh saved the Israelites by grace. Grace is the foundation of these commandments. God doesn't give Ten Commandments and say, Hey. Here's some rules. Work really hard on doing these rules and then I will save you.
Joel Brooks:And then I will rescue you. It's the exact opposite. God rescues or he saves us first. And then after we are saved, he gives us these rules and says, this is how I want you to live. Now that I have freed you, I want you to know like these are the rules of how you walk in this new freedom that I have given you.
Joel Brooks:So verse 2 sets the stage for all of the rest of the commandments. And we see that in this very the very first command that follows it. Which is you shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods before me. You might have a footnote there.
Joel Brooks:You could translate it as this. No other but me. No other but me. In other words, there is one God and there is only one God, and his name is Yahweh. Now at this time, no other religion was monotheistic.
Joel Brooks:I know that monotheism is so prevalent in our culture, it's hard to even imagine otherwise. Even what should be labeled as other gods, people still talk about in a monotheistic setting. They'll say things like, well we worship 1 God under many names. They'll say, like, we worship God under the name Allah, or we worship God under the name Yahweh, or God under the name Jesus. Like, which which is hogwash.
Joel Brooks:You're worshiping all these other gods is what you're trying to do. But monotheism is so prevalent in our culture now, it's hard for us to even think outside of monotheism. But yet it was revolutionary at this time. This would have been a shocking statement that there is only one God. There's me and no other.
Joel Brooks:Because up to this point in history, all people in every place, in every culture believed in many gods. And so they had no concept of there just being one. So this first commandment here introduces monotheism, which, of course, the entire Bible stands on. John Dickerson, Dickinson, he wrote, monotheism is not just the Bible's first command. It is its first thought.
Joel Brooks:Meaning, you cannot understand the bible apart from that. And we see here that the one true God in this very first command, what he's doing is demanding absolute and total allegiance. Now we're gonna flesh this out a little bit more next week, but the reason that God demands allegiance to Him alone is not because He's some tyrant, you know, up in heaven. Just you know, forcing us to do things. This is out of love.
Joel Brooks:The deepest love. The language here is one of marriage. So those words, you shall have no other. Those words were used in wedding ceremonies. So God is saying that He is entering into this covenant relationship with His people.
Joel Brooks:He's becoming their God. They're becoming His people. It's like a marriage together. And they will have no other. And that's what the Lord has done to us.
Joel Brooks:He has saved us. He has covenanted with us. He is ours and we are His. And He says, you are not to bring any other person into this relationship. And He says, you know, don't bring any other gods.
Joel Brooks:There are no other gods. We we know there are not any real gods out there, but God knows we could turn a lot of things into gods. We could turn money into a god, sex into a god, power into a god, social status into a god, the need to be married into a god, the need to have children into a god, you name it. Whenever we try to find ultimate satisfaction in something else besides the true Lord, we have turned it into a god. That's what Connor did such a good job of walking us through last week.
Joel Brooks:But God says, there will be none of those gods before me. You are not to bring another lover into our marriage. Imagine if you tried to actually bring a lover into your marriage. I mean, just just imagine if you will with me. You know, like, if you said, you know, hey, honey.
Joel Brooks:I'd like you to meet somebody. You know, come here, you know, this this girl's name, this is her name's Cindy. She's really nice, she's wonderful, you're gonna love her. Like, and she's gonna be here. Now you're first.
Joel Brooks:I mean, obviously you have all my heart, but Cindy provides some things like that you can't. And so I just thought we could all live together. I also met this other girl. You know, her name's Abby. Here she is.
Joel Brooks:And, I'd like you to meet her. Now once again, you're first. I mean, my heart, oh, we are so connected. But, Abby, like, you know, she brings a little something to the table as well. And so, we're just gonna be this perfect little marriage together.
Joel Brooks:Could you imagine trying to say that to your spouse? That spouse would rightly be ticked, angry. God says, you don't bring any other lovers into our relationship. This is what we mean when we when God says, I'm a jealous God. I'm jealous for your affection And you will have no others in this relationship.
Joel Brooks:I have been completely faithful to you and you are to be completely faithful to me. That's the first commandant. There will be no others in our relationship. There's no other God. I am faithful to you.
Joel Brooks:You will be faithful to me. God says that will not be shared. So this first commandment here sets the stage for all of the others. God saved us. God loves us.
Joel Brooks:He cares for us. He is jealous for us. And he won't share us with anyone. And we are to keep only to him because he has kept only to us. And now, in the basis of that relationship there, he wants to teach us how we are to live.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your love and your passion for us. How you are a jealous God who won't tolerate other lovers because you want us alone. And I pray that we would not bring any other lovers into this relationship.
Joel Brooks:That there would indeed be no gods before you. Lord, I pray for the next 10 weeks that we would learn about you and we would learn about us, that we would learn to love you with all of our heart, soul, and strength, and we would learn to love our neighbor as ourself. We pray this in your strong name, Jesus. Amen.