Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2015 23:41:00 GMT
In this lesson we will look at the First Commandment: “I am the LORD your God, which has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me”(Exodus 20:2,3).
We are to have no other gods before (or “besides”) the one true God. He is to be preeminent in our hearts. Jesus said that “the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29,30).
There is only One who can stand uncondemned regarding this Commandment. Jesus of Nazareth lived a life without sin; He was perfect in thought, word, and deed (see Hebrews 4:15). Everything He did pleased the Father absolutely. The cross not only revealed that He loved His Father with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it proved that He loved His neighbor as much as He loved Himself.
Those who profess to keep this Commandment would do well to run their eyes over the Westminster Confession of Faith. This was penned by godly men in 1646, and expressed their thoughts (based on Scripture) about the essence of this Commandment:
The duties required in the First Commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of Him, believing Him, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in Him, being zealous for Him, calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please Him, and sorrowful when in anything He is offended; and walking humbly with Him.
Someone once said, “It is agreeable to reason that men who have their beings from God, and are upheld in them by him, and are followed with the bounties of Providence; and especially who are made new creatures, and are blessed by him with all spiritual blessings in Christ, that they should give up themselves to him, and cheerfully serve him in their day and generation.”
Sinful humans, however, don’t love God. They don’t delight to do His will. Instead, the Law of sin and death has written its bloody signature across the godless human breast (Romans 7:21–24). Our inborn cry is, “Not Your will, but mine be done!” The devil is our father and his will we gladly do. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law or God, nor indeed can it be (Romans 8:7). See how the Law condemns us. We fail to love the God who gave us life.
The inevitable result is that sinful man will think that he himself is God. His pride takes over his brain, as shown in this quote by Jeremy Rifkin in his book Algeny:
We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else’s home and therefore obliged to make our behavior conform with a set of preexisting cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules. We establish the parameters of reality. We create the world, and because we do, we no longer feel beholden to outside forces. We no longer have to justify our behavior, for we are now the architects of the universe. We are responsible to nothing outside ourselves, for we are the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.
Questions
1. Name the First of the Ten Commandments.
2. Why do you think humanity has such a shallow understanding about what God requires of them? (See 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.)
3. What do you think could be the greatest sin of humanity?
4. In what ways have you transgressed this Commandment?
5. Using Psalm 14 and Romans 3:10–18, list the characteristics of human nature.
6. How did Jesus demonstrate that He kept this Commandment?
7. Why should we put God first?
We are to have no other gods before (or “besides”) the one true God. He is to be preeminent in our hearts. Jesus said that “the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29,30).
There is only One who can stand uncondemned regarding this Commandment. Jesus of Nazareth lived a life without sin; He was perfect in thought, word, and deed (see Hebrews 4:15). Everything He did pleased the Father absolutely. The cross not only revealed that He loved His Father with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it proved that He loved His neighbor as much as He loved Himself.
Those who profess to keep this Commandment would do well to run their eyes over the Westminster Confession of Faith. This was penned by godly men in 1646, and expressed their thoughts (based on Scripture) about the essence of this Commandment:
The duties required in the First Commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of Him, believing Him, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in Him, being zealous for Him, calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please Him, and sorrowful when in anything He is offended; and walking humbly with Him.
Someone once said, “It is agreeable to reason that men who have their beings from God, and are upheld in them by him, and are followed with the bounties of Providence; and especially who are made new creatures, and are blessed by him with all spiritual blessings in Christ, that they should give up themselves to him, and cheerfully serve him in their day and generation.”
Sinful humans, however, don’t love God. They don’t delight to do His will. Instead, the Law of sin and death has written its bloody signature across the godless human breast (Romans 7:21–24). Our inborn cry is, “Not Your will, but mine be done!” The devil is our father and his will we gladly do. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law or God, nor indeed can it be (Romans 8:7). See how the Law condemns us. We fail to love the God who gave us life.
The inevitable result is that sinful man will think that he himself is God. His pride takes over his brain, as shown in this quote by Jeremy Rifkin in his book Algeny:
We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else’s home and therefore obliged to make our behavior conform with a set of preexisting cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules. We establish the parameters of reality. We create the world, and because we do, we no longer feel beholden to outside forces. We no longer have to justify our behavior, for we are now the architects of the universe. We are responsible to nothing outside ourselves, for we are the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.
Questions
1. Name the First of the Ten Commandments.
2. Why do you think humanity has such a shallow understanding about what God requires of them? (See 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.)
3. What do you think could be the greatest sin of humanity?
4. In what ways have you transgressed this Commandment?
5. Using Psalm 14 and Romans 3:10–18, list the characteristics of human nature.
6. How did Jesus demonstrate that He kept this Commandment?
7. Why should we put God first?