The Ten Commandments Lesson 1: I Exalt Thee | Devin LaBay

Ronald Reagan once asked this question.

He said, I wonder what have what would have happened if Moses had run the Ten Commandments through Congress first.

And then Reagan, if you remember him, said jokingly, you know, I wish I'd have thought of asking him that the last time I saw him.

He was always uh chiding himself a little bit about his age because everybody else was.

With regard to the Ten Commandments, it's been said that it's kind of like the speed limit.

They're merely suggestions.

And if you take a look at the world that we're living in today, I would say that kind of, for the most part, is proving to be true.

This morning we're beginning a series of messages from the Ten Commandments.

And you may be thinking a lot of things with regard to the Ten Commandments.

Um, the Ten Commandments have been somewhat of a uh a news uh story for the last several years.

If I remember correctly, I believe from what I can remember, recall in my own memory, the big debate with regard to the Ten Commandments in recent memory, I think, got started right here in Alabama with regard uh to the display of the Ten Commandments in front of a federal building.

Uh, but that has kind of moved into different areas.

Uh, there's some states uh now that have actually passed laws that state that the ten commandments are to be placed in public schools.

And so when you when you start thinking about the Ten Commandments, at the very least, with all of this debate, it has come for the most part to the forefront of some people's minds.

And the the opinions regarding the Ten Commandments are about as varied as the people that make up our society.

And so for that reason, you could take that reason alone and say, you know what, a study of the Ten Commandments is probably a study that we need to engage in.

Now, when I think about people in the church, and I may be wrong on this, but for the most part, I think a lot of people really haven't done an in-depth study or taken a different, maybe fresh approach or look at the Ten Commandments in their adult life, other than maybe their annual Bible reading.

A lot of us thinking about, well, when was the last time we really talked about the Ten Commandments?

Some of us go all the way back to VBS with regard to the Ten Commandments.

So it's not something that that we've really delved into, at least as far as I know, uh in the church in quite a while.

Uh and when we do that annual reading, we get to the Ten Commandments, and of course we read through it, but it's kind of like it's kind of like a little speed bump along the way.

We just move through it because we feel like we're so familiar with it, and we move on to the next uh part of Exodus and into chapter, rest of chapter 20 and 21.

And so this morning we're gonna start this study, and we're gonna begin with the first commandment.

You shall have no other gods before me.

In other words, what God is saying to his people then, and what he's saying to you and I today is, I am to be exalted.

And you and I get to choose.

We get to choose on a daily basis whether we're going to exalt God above everything else in our life.

And so as we begin this study, I hope that you will begin thinking about what the Ten Commandments mean to you.

Take a fresh look at Exodus chapter 20 in your personal study, because we're gonna go through all the commandments, and I hope to view them from a fresh perspective as we engage in this study together.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

But before we begin this morning, let's go to God in prayer together, if you'll join me.

Father, we thank you for this beautiful day.

You have blessed us in so many ways, and the beauty of this day reminds us so much of all the many bountiful blessings that you shower upon us.

Blessings of family, blessings of friends.

And we we hope, Lord, that that we will step out and invite our family and friends to be with us on the 23rd and to share a day of worship and fellowship together.

We're reminded of the greatest blessing, which is the blessing of your son Jesus and his willingness to come to this earth and to live a life of perfection, to exhibit an example that is perfect for us as imperfect people to try and follow.

Father, we thank you for the Ten Commandments.

We're a New Testament church, we're a New Testament people, but we often fail to realize that the New Testament really and an understanding of it is incomplete without a knowledge and an understanding of the Old Covenant.

And so, Father, help us to understand that the Ten Commandments are just as binding and powerful today as they were when you gave them to Moses on Sinai.

Father, help us to embrace them and help us as we study this first commandment to exalt you above all other gods.

Thank you so much for my brothers who have participated in this service.

I thank you so much for the talents that you've blessed them with.

And Lord, I just pray that that central will be a light in this community, that you will, that you will bless our shepherds with wisdom, that you will give them the vision of what you want Central to be, and to help us as members of this church family to follow their lead as they follow you.

Lord, we love you so much.

We thank you, we praise you.

In the name of Jesus, we offer this prayer together.

And the church said, Amen.

According to Gallup, and I'm going to assume that Gallup is a reliable source of polling.

According to a Gallup poll, quote, an overwhelming majority of Americans hold the Bible in the highest regard, but rarely, if ever, read it.

Forty-nine percent of Americans believe the Bible to be the literal inspired word of God, but most can't recall the Ten Commandments.

Roughly, according to George Barna, which is a Christian pollster, roughly 67% of Americans, he says, consider themselves to be in a personal relationship with Jesus, but do not see it as any sort of obligation.

Church, these are eye-opening numbers.

But what do those numbers reveal about the faith and the commitment of Americans regarding faith?

Church, what those numbers reveal is the superficial nature of America's faith that has left us as a nation weak, powerless, and vulnerable to the idols of the world all around us.

And this is why we as a congregation, and quite honestly, we as a nation must come back to the book of Exodus and study the Ten Commandments.

Many Christians haven't invested that much time, I would say, in examining the Ten Commandments beyond what they figured out in VBS years ago.

So what makes a study of the Ten Commandments pertinent to Christians in the church today?

Somebody might very well ask that question.

I know the Ten Commandments.

Why do we need to go in depth about it?

The reason why is because they're God's law for God's people.

And as a nation founded upon the Word of God, we must return to the law of God because it is timeless and it is relevant for all of us.

But before we can actually delve into the Ten Commandments, there is a disclaimer.

There's a disclaimer that we must understand, and it sets the table for the presentation and the understanding of the laws of God.

And this disclaimer is put out there by God Himself in Exodus chapter 20, verse 2, that Joey read just a moment ago.

Exodus 20:2

God says, Quote, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Now, family, in this short disclaimer, God establishes two immutable facts.

First, he is qualified to lay down these laws.

Why?

Because he is the Lord.

He is the great I am.

He is the all-present, the all-powerful, the all-knowing God.

He's qualified, church, because he is God.

Second, he's qualified to lay down these laws because he's proven his love for us over and over and over again.

God proved his love and his concern for the Hebrews and their powerful deliverance from Egypt.

And he has proven his love for you.

And his love for me and sacrificed in the gift of his son Jesus.

For our mistakes, not his, but for your sins and my sins.

God has proven his love for you and for me.

Church, his commandments are not intended to restrict us, they're not intended to prohibit us.

They're not intended to limit us, but to free us.

Also, we need to understand that these commandments are not given out of anger, but out of his love for us.

And this is something that many people today fail to realize.

They fail to open their mind and their heart to.

Because they view God as the Old Testament God of anger, revenge, and being unrelenting.

That's how they see God during this time when he gave these laws.

In verse 3, the first commandment is stated very simply, very plainly, and concisely.

God says, You shall have no other gods before me.

What does he mean by that?

What he means is you shall place nothing in your life higher than me.

Church, God wants us to place him in the highest place of significance and influence in our life.

Meaning that nothing, no thing, no one should have more influence in your life and my life than he does.

How many people can say that?

How many of us can say that this morning?

Family, until we can honestly say, I exalt thee.

With regard to our relationship with God, we'll never be all that God intended for us to be.

As the church, as families, or as individual believers, the Lord must come first.

Church, we have to remember what an idol is.

And it's not necessarily some statue that we bow down to in a closet in our house somewhere.

But it's anything that we're willing to compromise the Lord for.

And Jesus exemplifies this point with the rich young ruler, if you're familiar with the story.

Most of us remember the story of the rich young ruler.

And Jesus exemplifies this very point with him.

This rich, young, influential, powerful man comes to Jesus with the most significant question of his life.

And he asked Jesus, What must I do to possess eternal life?

Here's a guy who's got it all together.

I mean, when we stop and think about what that guy looks like, we all have our image of who that guy is.

I mean, he's got his finances figured out.

He's got the model marriage.

He's got great kids.

He's taken care of his parents.

He's honored his parents as the commandment gave.

He's done everything right.

He's that guy.

But he comes to Jesus and he asks him a question about the one thing, the one thing that his money, his success, his influence, and his power cannot earn and cannot buy.

He says, What must I do to possess eternal life?

You see, he still has it in his mind that he can do something about it.

He just hasn't figured it out yet.

He has no idea that eternal life is a matter of grace rather than something that we can do.

So Jesus tells him, obey the commandments.

But I don't know if you've ever noticed in the story of the rich young ruler, Jesus proceeds to list some of those commandments.

And this man determines that he's kept these commandments.

He's kept all of them.

In fact, he says, all these I have kept since I was a boy.

This isn't a recent development for me.

I've been working on this my whole life.

And there's one thing that I'm lacking, and I believe that you're the source of it.

Or at least you can tell me where to go from here.

He had been faithful to his wife.

He hadn't killed anyone.

He hadn't stolen anything.

He hadn't borne false witness against anyone.

And he had honored his parents.

All the commandments Jesus listed, he checks every last one of them.

As far as he's concerned, he's the guy.

Yet Jesus tells him there's one thing.

There's one thing that you lack.

There's one thing, and that one thing that you lack is compromised by all that you have.

All that you've worked for, all that you've earned, all that you've put away is the one thing that's compromising what you want most of all.

And Jesus says, You want to fix it?

You want to answer to your question?

Here's what you're going to do.

You're going to take all of it.

Take it.

Take all of it and give it to the poor.

Give it to all those people that you have passed up in the rat race to get where you are right now.

All the people that maybe to some degree you might have looked down on just a little bit on your way, climbing the ladder up to the top, and give it to them.

Give it away.

All of it.

And then come follow me.

I believe when Jesus said, Come follow me, he was passionate.

Because he knew that this guy was on the edge.

If anybody had a shot of doing that, it was this guy.

And I believe that Jesus passionately said, Come.

Follow me.

You think what you got now is great?

Wait till I show you what you can have when this life is over.

He's this close.

Church, this was more than this rich young ruler was willing to give.

He just couldn't go there.

And the scripture says that he turned and he walked away.

To my knowledge, there's not a single person other than the twelve apostles that Jesus ever asked to follow him.

And this is the only person that I'm aware of who Jesus asked to follow him.

He was this close.

This close.

Now, was Jesus telling this rich young ruler, hey, you got to bankrupt yourself to get into heaven?

No, that's not the point.

That's not what Jesus is telling this guy.

But what Jesus was doing, family, was taking the first commandment and applying it to this rich young ruler's life.

And Jesus knew it.

Jesus knew that this guy was that close.

Jesus knew this guy better than he knew himself.

And Jesus knew that everything that gave this guy his own sense of self-worth was tied to what he had.

His status revolved around his portfolio.

His confidence rises and falls with his net worth.

And because of this, Jesus, man, he cuts to the chase.

He cuts straight to it and gets right to the center of the problem in this man's life.

He was controlled by what he had more than he was by the one who gave it to him.

As well, at the end of the day, truly was his God.

And regardless of whether or not he had kept all of the other commandments, it didn't make any difference.

And the reason why is because he had broken the first and most important commandment, you shall have no other gods before me.

Church, that was true then, and it's true now.

Unless God is first, nothing else makes a difference.

Nothing else really matters.

So how do we break the first commandment?

How do we do that?

We break it by taking our eyes off of it.

And when we take our eyes off of the first commandment and follow and allow ourselves to drift, we drift toward the idols of the world.

We all have them.

We all have those things that are enticing to us.

We all have those things that are more important to us.

Today I want to look at some of those idols.

And the first is the idol of material possessions.

That's what this guy's problem was, and he ain't alone in it.

Family, it's really easy for us to look at this rich young ruler and shake our heads.

But the stark reality is that we're more like this guy than we want to admit.

His idol was his material possessions.

And unfortunately, it's also the idol of so many people in the world today.

Instead of placing all of our trust in God, church, we place our trust in our bank account, in our education, in our appearance, and in our possessions.

Our money says, in God we trust, right?

But how often do we read that and give any thought to it?

Because when our attitude goes from in God we trust to in the dollar we trust, three things happen.

First, we never have enough.

Church, when we trust in God, we always have enough.

You ever been through the hard times?

Our young married people understand, and when we were, we older folks were young and married, we got it.

When you ain't got nothing but each other in God, guess what?

You always have enough.

But then things change.

When our trust shifts from trusting the Lord to trusting money, we never seem to have enough money.

Second, we never find the satisfaction we're looking for.

We keep looking for it in all the wrong places.

We think if we finally achieve this or achieve that, we'll find what we're looking for.

We're never going to find it in material possessions.

In other words, nothing will ever be good enough.

And we tell ourselves that if we can make just a little bit more, then we can upgrade to the next latest and greatest.

Of course, until the next latest and greatest after that is available.

Third, when we trust in material possessions, family, we never prepare for the eternal things to come.

Jesus describes another man in the Bible who fits this bill.

He was the farmer, if you remember.

He was the guy who had had a lot.

He made a great living.

He was a hard worker, and one year he had a bumper crop, if you remember.

And he sat down after a long, hard day in the fields, and he's taking a look at all his stuff and thinking, man, if I could just build me a few more barns, a few more silos to hold all this grain and all this wealth I've got.

Man, that'll be great.

While he's sitting there in his easy chair, thinking about that, putting that above everything else, above the God who gave him the crop to begin with, he doesn't realize that his life is going to be demanded of him that very night.

You see, his confidence and his faith was in what he had rather than the one who had given it to him.

In church, this is the idol that demands so much attention from all of us.

A second idol is the idol of misplaced faith.

Church, this is possibly the most deceptive idol of all.

Because it happens really, really easy.

And we can break the first commandment with regard to this one without even realizing it.

Family, this happens when we trust in religion more than we trust in God.

Let me say that again so we don't miss it.

This happens when we trust our religion more than we trust God.

I won't say something right now that might not sit well with some folks, especially folks outside of this building, but this is something that I've come to figure out in the last year that I've been with you here in North Alabama and Central.

There's a reason why there's nearly 90 churches of Christ in this county.

And that's it.

It's because people have placed their trust in their religion and their legalistic interpretation of the word, their religion, more than they've trusted God.

That's the way I see it.

You may disagree.

And it's dangerous.

It is very dangerous.

We place our faith in things like being here every time the doors are open.

You ever heard anybody say that?

Man, you better be there every time the doors are open.

They guilt you to death.

As if you miss a Wednesday night, well, you that's it, you're done.

We place our faith in our own faith.

That's what it boils down to.

And family, it is possible to have faith in faith rather than faith in God.

And we do this when we come to the conclusion that if we can just muster enough faith, then we'll God will give us what we want, right?

Think about that for just a second.

Who's God in that scenario?

Is God God or are we exalting ourselves to the position of God?

You know, many place their faith in their religious experience.

And what we have to remember, family, is that we're not saved because of anything we've done or we can do.

Rich Young Ruler figured that one out.

But we're saved because of what God has done through Jesus.

The third idol is the most difficult of all to overcome.

And that's the idol of me.

It's a powerful one.

Paul speaks of this in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 to 5.

2 Timothy 3:1–5

Listen to what he says.

He says, but mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days.

We are now living in the last days.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power.

You know what that means when he says having a form of godliness but denying its power?

You know what he's talking about?

He's talking about fake believers.

That's what he's talking about.

And then he says, have nothing to do with them.

That's a pretty harsh list right there.

Take a good look at it.

Those are the times we're living in right now.

Church, notice that Paul says that these people will be lovers of themselves.

Now, if there's a better way to describe our society as it is right now, I'd like to see it.

But that's pretty dead on accurate right there.

And all you have to do is listen.

And you hear all kinds of statements in the world that support that right there.

For example, when a difficult decision has to be made, many times the response is, all I have to do is what's right for me.

That's all I gotta do.

All I gotta do is what's right for me because I am entitled to enjoy life.

You ever heard that before?

It's everywhere.

Church, the reason why is because the only person I have to please is me.

I just gotta make the idol of me happy.

And if all else fails, well, you know what?

The Lord helps those who help themselves.

Church, what I just said is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

There is no book, chapter, and verse that says the Lord helps those who help themselves.

Famine, the reason why, and the reason why people treat that saying as scripture is because the lines of biblical truth and self-centered fiction have become so blurred that too many people can't tell the difference.

Too many people have placed the idol of themselves above the Lord.

Who says, You shall have no other gods before me.

Close behind the idol of me is the idol of our vices.

And the two are so closely tied together because, I mean, let's be honest.

I mean, we really like our vices, right?

We like what we like.

We like our vices.

We all have an appetite for things of the world, and these vices are the things that in the world we have a weakness for.

Paul writes about this in Philippians chapter 3, verses 18 and 19.

Philippians 3:18

He says, For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, there are many whose conduct shows that they're really enemies of the cross of Christ.

He's talking about Christian people, folks.

They're headed for destruction.

Their God is their appetite.

They brag about shameful things and they think only about this life here on earth.

Paul had it right.

Two thousand years ago.

Church, Paul calls these people enemies of the cross.

So what was it that made them enemies of the cross?

Well, look at what he says.

The fact that their God is their appetite.

Their God is their vices.

Now, the word that's used here for appetite is koilia, and it means desires which come from within.

In other words, any desire or any vice that we have and act upon, it displaces God.

It takes God off of the throne of our life, and it moves our vice or our desire into his place.

It displaces God and his will for us, and then our idol becomes the God that we worship, at least for a time.

It's been said that if we break commandments two through ten, then we must have also broken commandment number one.

And if we can keep the first commandment, then we can also keep all of the other commandments.

That's why the first commandment is you shall have no other gods before me.

Because when we break any of the other commandments, we've already broken the first.

We take God off of the pedestal, we take him off of his throne, and we elevate something else to his place.

Jesus in Matthew chapter 22, verses 37 and 38 re-emphasizes this.

Matthew 22:37

Look at what he says.

When the teacher of the law asks him a question, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

And Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

You shall have no other gods before me.

There's a song that says, For thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth.

Thou art exalted far above all gods.

I exalt thee.

O Lord.

Church, will you exalt him this morning?

We're all human.

We all have our vices.

We all have things that we elevate to God's place because we're all human.

We all know what our weaknesses are.

In church, in that moment, they become our God.

Now, does that mean we have to be perfect?

We can't.

We can't be perfect.

But the blood of Jesus that covers us fills the gap in the eyes of God.

Now, that doesn't give us a green light to do whatever we want to.

Because we've been called and commanded to do the best that we can.

Here's the thing.

Can you honestly say this morning that you're doing the best that you can?

The people that can honestly say that in the presence of God and in this fellowship together, the people that honestly can say that is fairly few.

I don't know about you, but every time I've sinned, I've known exactly what I was doing.

I can't claim ignorance when it comes to sin.

Can you?

For the most part, no.

But there's some folks, probably a lot more than we realize, and you may be one of them, that God has not been exalted in your life for far, far too long.

And there's no shame in saying, you know what?

I got to get right with God.

And that's what this church family is for.

We have an opportunity to respond as the Spirit calls us to the Lord's invitation.

And Jesus invites you.

Hey, look, I know you've messed up.

That's why I went to a cross.

I'm not going to condemn you for it.

I want to forgive you for it.

I want to love you.

I want to embrace you.

I want you to feel complete and whole.

And our shepherds will be up front with me to receive you, to love you, to welcome you, to pray for you and with you.

It's your choice.

It always has been.

It always will be.

And if you need to make that choice to come back to Jesus, if you need to make the choice to confess Jesus as the Lord of your life and have your sins washed away in God's sight and baptism, everything's ready for you.

The real question is, are you ready for God?

If you're looking for a church home, well, we'd love to have you here at Central.

We're not perfect, but I've discovered in the last year these are pretty good people.

And this is family for me.

And I'm glad to be home.

And we invite you to be a part of this church home with us.

If you have a need, stand, respond while we sing.