These are from the notes I prepared for the message I presented today at NRN!
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:4-6 (NKJV)
Review:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:4-6 (NKJV)
Review:
1st
Commandment: “I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods
before Me. Exodus 20:1-3
(NKJV)
Forbids
false gods
2nd
Commandment: You
shall not make for yourself a carved image Exodus
20:4a
Forbids
false worship
COMMAND:
“You
shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. Exodus
20:4-5
Quote: How should we form thoughts of God? Not only
can we not imagine Him adequately, since He is at every point greater that we
can grasp. We dare not trust anything our imagination suggests about Him for
the built in habit of fallen minds is to scale God down. – J.
I. Packer
THE BUILD IN HABIT OF FALLEN MINDS IS TO
SCALE GOD DOWN.
The
Bible, God’s Word, tells us what God is like and what He is not like. Without
the authority of the Bible, any attempt to explain God’s attributes would be no
better than an opinion, which by itself is often incorrect, especially in
understanding God. To say that it is important for us to try to understand what
God is like is a huge understatement. Failure to do so can cause us to set up,
chase after, and worship false gods contrary to His will.
The commandments of God reveal the CHARACTER of God.
Commandment #1 No
Other gods… Sovereignty of God. This is
the attribute of God’s Character by which He rules His entire creation. He is
the all-knowing and all-powerful God. God is in control of everything that
happens. By considering creation's
vastness, complexity, beauty, and order, we can have a sense of the awesomeness
of God.
Commandment #2 – No
craven images … God is Spirit – not
a part of creation – His glory is above His creation. God is eternal, meaning
He had no beginning and His existence will never end. He is immortal and
infinite.
Commandment #3 – Do
not take name of the Lord in vain – God’s
Holiness – This is the attribute of His character that sets God apart from
all created beings. His holiness refers to His majesty and perfect moral
purity. There is absolutely no sin or evil thought in God at all. His holiness
is the definition of that which is puree and righteous in all the universe.
Commandment #4 –
Sabbath Rest – Omnipotence: Literally this word means all-powerful.
Since God is infinite and since He possesses power, He possesses infinite
power. He does allow His creatures to have some power, but this in no way
diminishes His own. “He expends no energy that must be replenished.” When the
Bible says God rested on the seventh day, it was to set an example for us and
our need for rest, not because He was tired. If we learn the principle of
rest in the Lord it leads to peace our life. Rest in God – not the pursuit of
life.
Commandment #5 – Honor
Father and Mother. This describes the
Character of God as all Wisdom: “Wisdom
is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve these ends by the most
perfect means.” In other words, God makes no mistakes. He is the Father who truly knows best, as Paul
explains in
Romans
11:33: “Oh, how great are God’s
riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His
decisions and His ways!”
Commandment #6 - Do
not Murder. I believe this describes Justice
as a Characteristic of God. The Bible says that God is just, but it is
His character that defines what being just really is. He does not conform to
some outside criteria. Being just brings moral equity to everyone. When there
are evil acts, justice demands there be a penalty. Since God is perfect and has
never done evil, no penalty would ever be necessary; however, because of His
love, God paid the penalty for our evil deeds by going to the cross Himself.
His justice needed to be satisfied, but He took care of it for all who will
believe in Jesus.
Commandment #7- Do
not commit Adultery – The Characteristic of
Perfect Love: Love is such an important part of God’s character
that the apostle John wrote, “God is love.” This means that God holds the
well-being of others as His primary concern. For a full definition of love,
read 1 Corinthians 13. To see love in action, study the life of Jesus. His
sacrifice on the cross for the sins of others is the ultimate act of love.
God’s love is not a love of emotion but of action. His love gives freely to the
object of its affection, those who choose to follow His son Jesus. Our
full devotion and wholehearted Love is to be toward God who loves us unconditionally
with a devoted and whole hearted LOVE.
Commandment #8 – Do
not Steal - God is all sufficient.
God is one; not only is there no other, but He is alone in being able to meet
the deepest needs and longings of our hearts. God alone is worthy of our
worship and devotion.
Hear,
O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Or - The Lord our God is one Lord;
or The Lord is our God,
the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
God is
righteous, meaning that God cannot and will not pass over wrongdoing. It is
because of God’s righteousness and justice that, in order for our sins to be
forgiven, Jesus had to experience God's wrath when our sins were placed upon
Him
Commandment #9 – Do
not dear False Witness – Faithfulness:
Everything
that God has promised will come to pass. His faithfulness guarantees this fact.
He does not lie. What He has said in the Bible about Himself is true. Jesus
even said that He is the Truth. This is extremely important for the followers
of Jesus because it is on His faithfulness that our hope of eternal life rests.
He will honor His promise that our sins will be forgiven and that we will live
forever with Him.
Commandment #10 – Do
not Covet - Self-sufficiency: The Bible says that God has life in
Himself. All other life in the universe is a gift from God. He has no needs and
there is no way He can improve. To God, nothing else is necessary. He does not
need our help with anything, but because of His grace and love, He allows us to
be a part of advancing His plan on earth and being a blessing to others. We are
the ones who change, but never God. He is self-sufficient. Our culture drives
us to want more and more and even covet what others have. I say: Just Give me Jesus.
How
accurate is your view of God?
You can trust His character in order to obey
His Commands.
Reason: For
I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…
Exodus 20:5b
It
is important to understand how the word “jealous” is used. Its use
in Exodus 20:5 to describe God is different from how it is used to
describe the sin of jealousy (Galatians 5:20). When
we use the word “jealous,” we use it in the sense of being envious of someone
who has something we do not have.
A person might be jealous or envious of another person because he or she has a nice car or home (possessions). Or a person might be jealous or envious of another person because of some ability or skill that other person has (such as athletic ability). Another example would be that one person might be jealous or envious of another because of his or her beauty. In Exodus 20:5, it is not that God is jealous or envious because someone has something He wants or needs.
Exodus 20:4-5 says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...” Notice that God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him.
A person might be jealous or envious of another person because he or she has a nice car or home (possessions). Or a person might be jealous or envious of another person because of some ability or skill that other person has (such as athletic ability). Another example would be that one person might be jealous or envious of another because of his or her beauty. In Exodus 20:5, it is not that God is jealous or envious because someone has something He wants or needs.
Exodus 20:4-5 says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...” Notice that God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him.
Warning:
… visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me Exodus 20:6a
1. The sins of the fathers are punished in
the children through becoming the
sins of the children.
2. Because of God’s grace, which is finally
secured by Christ, the children can confess their own sins and the sins of
their fathers and be forgiven and accepted by God.
Promise… but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:6b
How does this commandment set us free?
-
A RIGHT VIEW of God sets us free.
We should live each day in the shadow of
the Cross…
“If we want to live
beyond the shadow of our doubts, we need to position our thoughts and our
hearts to dwell in the shadow of the cross, each and
every day.”
I
have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Let us pause to prepare
our hearts to come before the Lord’s Table for communion.
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